The Kansas City Chiefs have had one of the more interesting starts to the 2025 campaign across the NFL. They aren’t exactly dominating at the level we’ve been accustomed to seeing from them during the Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid era, but they have recently earned a pair of major victories over the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions to help push their record back to .500 at 3-3.
Given their unusually slow start, concerns about the team have emerged, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. If you ask former Chiefs’ All-Pro offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz, though, he doesn’t seem too worried just yet. In an interview with casino.org, Schwartz provided Heavy on Chiefs with some exclusive comments on his thoughts about Kansas City’s offense, and whether or not the team is still a Super Bowl contender this season.
Mitchell Schwartz Doesn’t See Chiefs Trading for More Help on Offense
After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Cleveland Browns, Schwartz landed with the Chiefs in 2016 and immediately turned himself into one of the top right tackles in the league. Schwartz earned four straight All-Pro selections from 2016 to 2019, with his best season coming in 2018, when he earned a spot on the All-Pro First Team. Most importantly, though, he helped Kansas City take down the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
Unsurprisingly, Schwartz has been paying close attention to K.C.’s offensive line, which underwent some big changes over the offseason. There’s no doubt this group is going through some collective growing pains, but that’s to be expected. Schwartz likes what he has seen from this group, and he believes that the heightened expectations they face are unfair, as fans have gotten too used to seeing guys like Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith immediately become stars.
“They’re definitely getting better, which is the encouraging thing,” Schwartz said to Heavy on Chiefs. “I think Chiefs fans have gotten a little spoiled with Creed and Trey, just showing up starting from week one and being one of the best of their position from the get-go, that’s not normal.”
Part of the problem has been that Mahomes has been forced to hold onto the ball longer than usual because he’s struggling to find open receivers down the field. As a result, the Chiefs have popped up in trade rumors for just about every offensive playmaker who could be available. With wide receiver Rashee Rice set to return from his six-game suspension in Week 7, though, Schwartz doesn’t think the front office will end up bringing in more help on offense.
“It’s tough to bring in skill guys halfway through the season,” Schwartz admitted. “You’re learning a new playbook, it might have different terminology compared to what you’re used to, because every coach has a slightly different terminology for certain plays.”
“If you look at Rashee Rice’s start to last season, I think those first three or four games, whatever it was, he was on pace to have 1,500, 1,600 receiving yards in the season. He had a seriously high volume … When Rice and Worthy are back out there together, Kelce can slot back into the role that they really envisioned him for at this stage in his career. Coach Reid is going to be excited, and I’m excited talking about it right now.”
Does Mitchell Schwartz Think the Chiefs Are Still a Super Bowl Contender?
GettyPatrick Mahomes with Mitchell Schwartz.
Even with their big Sunday Night Football win over the Lions, the Chiefs still have just a 3-3 record through six games. While that has them sitting a game behind the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos in the AFC West, there’s still a lot of football left to be played this season. Schwartz still is of the belief that Kansas City is one of the best teams in the league, labeling them a top contender in the AFC alongside the Buffalo Bills.
“It’s potentially being a prisoner to the Chiefs’ success in recent years, but I feel like they have to be, amongst the favorites, if not the favorite, alongside Buffalo,” Schwartz said. “You probably still have Buffalo as the favorite to get the one seed because of the way the schedule unfolds. I think they have the easiest schedule or one of the easiest schedules in the NFL … They play Kansas City on Nov. 2, and that could be the game that determines the one seed.”
There’s no doubt the Chiefs have dug a hole for themselves early this season, but now that they are finally getting healthy on offense, that could be the key to helping them return to the top of the league. Kansas City will look to push its record above .500 in Week 7 by picking up a win over the Las Vegas Raiders, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
Broncos Urged to Make Drastic Changes on Offensive Line
You didn’t have to be an NFL head coach to see what the biggest problem for the Denver Broncos offense was in a 13-11 win over the
New York Jets in Week 6 in London.
Against the Jets, the Broncos looked like their offensive line was totally out of sync, thanks in large part to the play of
Matt Peart, who was making his first start of the season in place of the injured Ben Powers.
Peart was about as bad as an NFL offensive lineman could be against the Jets, where he was called for 3 penalties. Peart is currently ranked 108th out of 109 eligible NFL offensive guards with a
29.9 overall grade from Pro Football Focus.
Peart, 6-foot-7 and 318 pounds, was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury after he returned from London and underwent an MRI.
“For second straight week, Broncos are placing their starting left guard on IR after he just played every offensive snap in game,” Denver 9 News reporter Mike Klis wrote on his official X account on October 14. “This time Matt Peart going on IR with knee injury per source. He played all 60 snaps vs
Jets. Tests run after he returned to Denver from London. Peart had replaced Ben Powers, who played every snap vs Eagles, but now on IR with biceps injury.”
While it’s not totally clear what the Broncos might do with their lineup after they’ve lost both Powers and his replacement, there’s one unique idea that might actually work really well.
One Broncos Starter Could Shift Positions
Peart’s struggles probably necessitated a shift in plans to something that didn’t include Peart, which Locked on Broncos podcast host Cody Roark had at the ready.
“The Broncos need to figure out how to maybe make the best overall adjustment, which in my opinion is sliding Luke Wattenberg over from center to left guard,” Roark said on October 14. “I understand Luke has had his struggles of his own this year, but I actually think that he might be better suited at guard in this situation. Then you start
Alex Forsyth at center … Last year, Forsyth, when he started for Wattenberg when he had an inury, I thought he did fantastic in the run blocking assignments and in pass protection.”
Peart signed a 1-year, $1.292 million contract with the Broncos in March 2024 and played in all 17 games for the first time in his career while making 2 starts.
He re-upped with the
Broncos on a 2-year, $7 million contract in March 2025.
Peart’s Play Became Talking Point Online
Peart was an easy scapegoat for the Broncos’ overall struggles as an offense against the
Jets — a game where the Broncos defense did the heavy lifting by allowing just 82 yards of total offense.
With every Denver fan in the world already hoping quarterback
Bo Nix will magically learn to hit receivers on long passes, Peart’s struggles were only amplified.
“So it turns out the only reason why Matt Peart was so horrible last week was because he was playing injured for 95% of the game,”
Broncos Fan Da Real Con Man wrote on X. “This ISN’T what I meant when I said I didn’t want to see Peart back on the field. I feel bad for hating on Peart now, and I hope he recovers well.”
