Kansas City Chiefs Stock Report: Week 7 2022

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The Kansas City Chiefs were in need of a statement performance going into their bye week. For the most part, they delivered, defeating the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 44-23. This offense had a dominant showing through the air, with Patrick Mahomes throwing for over 400 yards. Defensively, some areas are still in need of improvement. They eventually got to Jimmy Garoppolo and created turnovers, however.

Each and every week, we will be listing players or position groups that improved or hurt their respective stock. Who saw their stock rise or fall in Week 7? Let’s kick it off.

Stock Up

Patrick Mahomes

The day started poorly for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. An interception on the first drive put Kansas City behind the eight-ball. Down 10-0 early, Mahomes shook it off and delivered a dominant performance. He was simply surgical. Mahomes stood tall in the pocket, stayed in structure and was unfazed by limited pressure. He was able to take what the 49ers were giving him. Sometimes that resulted in short throws with plenty of yards after the catch. Or, Mahomes hit on a few deep shots that seemed to put a dagger in the heart of San Francisco defensive backs. Even with the early hole, Mahomes was calm, cool and collected. He spread the wealth to register 423 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and had only nine incompletions on 34 passing attempts.

Mecole Hardman

After a slow start, Mecole Hardman has turned it on the last few weeks. His hat trick of touchdowns may look inflated, given that they all came on plays where he ran in motion on a jet sweep action. One was technically a receiving touchdown, with the other two touchdowns counted as rushing scores. Hardman may not be the clear replacement for Tyreek Hill. He may not even be a top three wide receiver in this offense at times. Even if he is more of a gadget player, the Chiefs have found out how to utilize him as a weapon, no matter how gimmicky it may be.

Rest Of Chiefs Pass Catchers

With the three touchdowns, we wanted to single Hardman out. However, it was a very impressive day for the rest of the Chiefs pass catchers, to boot. JuJu Smith-Schuster led the team in catches (seven) and receiving yards (124) on the day. More importantly, he showed off his versatility. He made tight catches in traffic, fought off contact against man coverage and even showed off his run after catch ability. Meanwhile, Marquez Valdes-Scantling extended drives in key moments with his vertical stretch ability, getting on top of the defense. It was a simple-looking 98-yard receiving day for Travis Kelce as well.

Kansas City Offensive Line

After a terrible performance against the Buffalo Bills last week, the Chiefs offensive line responded accordingly in San Francisco. Orlando Brown Jr. and Andrew Wylie looked much more calm on the outer edges. Interior blockers like Creed Humphrey and Joe Thuney created significant movement in many situations. Additionally, Trey Smith was able to bounce back after an early holding penalty. Given how ferocious, exotic and fast that this 49ers pass rush is, Kansas City could not have been more pleased with the blocking unit. Nick Bosa was stymied time and time again. And in the end, the San Francisco power and strength was nonexistent in the interior defensive line.

Chiefs Pass Rush

The Chiefs were able to sack Jimmy Garoppolo five times on Sunday. Frank Clark had a spirited effort, producing 1.5 sacks, while also creating a safety. Chris Jones continues to be energized. He led the team with two sacks on the day, one of which forced a fumble. Other pieces like George Karlaftis, Carlos Dunlap, Khalen Saunders and Willie Gay were able to provide immense pressure, even if it did not always show up in the sack number category. You would still like to see a bit more consistency from this group. Perhaps, that is aided by a trade deadline acquisition?

Stock Down

Skyy Moore

This has more to do with his special teams results, rather than lack of offensive production. Skyy Moore muffed a punt inside his own 15-yard line. That is the second time where that has happened this season. Amazingly, the Chiefs stood tall with their backs against the wall. Another rookie, Joshua Williams, intercepted Garoppolo at the goal line and picked up the other rookie for his mistake. Possibly, Moore should just be seeing more snaps on offense and less looks on special teams.

Harrison Butker

No one is saying that Harrison Butker is in danger of losing his job anytime soon. Obviously, having him back gives the Chiefs a bit more certainty in critical situations. He missed a key field goal right before halftime in San Francisco, though. That was a tremendous drive set up by Mahomes and the Kansas City offense. To not come away with any points could have been much more costly. Thankfully for the Chiefs, they were able to run away with things in the second half. It is just interesting how Butker is generally automatic on deeper kicks, compared to his up and down results on shorter distances.

Chiefs Run Defense

Once again, the Chiefs run defense struggled to get any consistency going. Kansas City has failed to get off of blocks for the last few weeks now. At the same time, opposing running backs are gaining way too many yards before first contact. It feels like many gaps and run fits are being left wide open. Elsewhere, the cutback runs are beginning to cost the Chiefs defense mightily. That has been an issue in the past for this regime. Though, we have not seen that occur quite as constantly in a long while.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.