National Football League

How Chiefs rebuilt on the fly; a great Eagles story: Schrager's Cheat Sheet

Updated Feb. 17, 2023 9:59 a.m. ET

As someone who makes his bones covering the NFL Draft and free agency, these two Super Bowl teams are a great study in roster construction.

Both the Kansas City Chiefs and Phildephia Eagles have hoisted Lombardi Trophies in the last five years, and yet both teams have gone through nothing short of roster rebuilds in the periods between those respective Super Bowl wins and Sunday's game.

I'm fascinated by the Chiefs. With five straight AFC Championship Game appearances, you might assume the same guys are involved in this run year after year. That would be a faulty assumption. Yes, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones have been there the entire time. But this Chiefs roster is vastly different from the one that took the field as recently as last year's AFC Championship Game.

Consider this: 24 of the 53 players on the Chiefs' active roster in the 2022 AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals were not on the roster that lost to the Bengals a year earlier. That's 45 percent of the team's players.

What GM Brett Veach and his colleagues in the front office did this past offseason is nothing short of miraculous. They more or less rebuilt, all the while never missing a beat, and getting even further than they did a year ago in the postseason. How'd they do it? Roster management, salary-cap maintenance, and an unbelievable 2022 NFL Draft class.

In trading Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs said farewell to the greatest wide receiver in the franchise's history and one of the most beloved players on the team. They also shed themselves of a $30 million price tag for one player. The decision was hard. In conversations I've had with sources within the organization, it was made clear that not only was this a brutal move to make from an emotional standpoint, but one that they knew they'd have to address immediately and couldn't put off for the 2023 offseason. The Chiefs went to work. And they were aggressive, while remaining fiscally responsible.

The Kansas City wide receiver room now includes six players who have started games this season. The room's total salary for the 2022 campaign is $21 million. JuJu Smith-Schuster signed a one year deal. So did Justin Watson. And after Green Bay opted not to pay big bucks to keep their promising deep threat under contract, KC gave a reasonable three-year deal to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who saved his best day of the season for the AFC Championship Game.

Second-round pick Skyy Moore has been a solid rookie, Kadarius Toney has made plays and Mecole Hardman's the holdover who's come through in a few big moments.

Justin Reid and Carlos Dunlap were both cost-effective additions on defense.

The draft is where GM Brett Veach and his group deserve their flowers. It lasts all of three days, and yet those three days helped ensure the Chiefs weren't going anywhere. Ten KC rookies have played roles this season. Four of them will start in the Super Bowl.

Trent McDuffie, Bryan Cook and Jaylen Watson are first-year defensive backs who have made huge plays in the playoffs. No. 30 overall pick George Karlaftis, football's own "Greek Freak," has six sacks and will make a play in a big spot seemingly every time he's asked. Isiah "Pop" Pacheco led the team in rushing yards despite being a seventh-round pick and Skyy Moore is the electric return man who overcame early-season struggles to make the biggest play of the AFC Championship Game.

Mahomes, Kelce and Jones deserve credit, too. For this roster to work, all three of those players would have to play as well as they did during the first Super Bowl season. You could argue that all three had the best years of their professional careers. When your big-ticket players — and that includes Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown on the offensive line — all play up to their expectations, success becomes all the more possible.

Chiefs' Orlando Brown on blocking for Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Orlando Brown speaks about blocking for Patrick Mahomes and getting the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.

Without much fanfare or attention, the Chiefs had a roster makeover last Spring. And it worked. They're back. And they may very well be better than ever.

Some other Super Bowl observations:

Jerick McKinnon has a cool story. I broke the news of his signing with the San Francisco 49ers on a big free-agent deal back in 2018. It was an awesome moment for McKinnon, who had spent the previous few years grinding in a reserve role in Minnesota. He was set to be the focal point of the Kyle Shanahan run-heavy offense.On the final practice of training camp, he tore his knee up. He missed that season. The following year, he got hurt again, and missed another season. McKinnon has played nine NFL seasons. He's missed so many games to injuries. And now he's healthy for the Super Bowl. "It came to a point in my career where I didn't have anybody to lean on — and it was real dark," McKinnon told reporters in Monday's "Opening Night" press appearances in Phoenix. But then, he said, he got a call to come to the Chiefs. He called KC "a great organization [with] great coaches and great teammates."I've know "Jet" for nearly a decade. I'm happy for him.

With a movement online to get the mother of Jason and Travis Kelce to conduct the opening coin toss, Donna Kelce told reporters Monday, "There are so many legends and people that have their blood, sweat and tears on that field and for a mom thats never played football, I don't think that's the right place for me."OK, fine. But Donna, you're as much of the story as your sons. Wear that Eagles/Chiefs jersey on Sunday and have the time of your life.
Eagles safety Reed Blankenship has a heck of a story, too. When Eagles camp opened this summer, he was somewhere between the 85th to 90th man on the 90-man roster, depending on who you speak to. He's a few days away from playing in a Super Bowl.Blankenship was a five-year starter at Middle Tennessee State but didn't get any of the media love at his Pro Day. He wasn't in any mock drafts. He didn't get an invite to the Combine. Naturally, he wasn't drafted, and when he signed with the Eagles after three days of waiting to hear his name called, he took the bare minimum signing bonus.But Blankenship didn't wallow. He went to work. And in Philadelphia's final preseason game, he played 47 snaps and was all over the field versus the Miami Dolphins. He made the team and never looked back. And when Avonte Maddox got injured, he stepped up and started. Blankenship will not be starting in the Super Bowl, but will no doubt be on the field in sub packages and in special teams. Couldn't get a Combine invite. Oh well.
One Super Bowl Prediction — Rihanna will be awesome. Oh, you want my pick for the game? I'm not going there! (I'll make my pick Sunday during the FOX pregame show.)

Peter Schrager is an NFL writer for FOX Sports and a host of "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @PSchrags.

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