Pro Football Focus is continuing to unveil its top-101 players from the 2010s decade on Tuesday. As they continued their countdown on Tuesday, bringing us to 50 total players announced so far, three more Kansas City Chiefs players have been added. That brings the tally for current and former Chiefs players to eight.
Keep in mind, PFF is looking at the production, efficiency and impact of players during the 2010s decade in order to compile this list. There should be a few more players revealed in the coming days, but let’s go ahead and look at the newest Chiefs added and what was said about them by PFF’s Sam Monson.
No. 66 – DB Tyrann Mathieu
“In a league of versatile offensive players, Mathieu stands out as a hybrid answer to the many problems presented by opposing offenses. He is half safety and half slot cornerback, bringing a skill set that gives great flexibility to his defensive coordinators. Mathieu has been a playmaker since his days at LSU, and that has continued at the NFL level, where he has broken up 34 passes and picked off 17. At his peak, Mathieu is the perfect slot defender for today’s NFL, where he’s not only sound in coverage, but he also has three years with 80.0-plus grades as a run defender, allowing his defense to stop the run while maintaining coverage flexibility on the back end. His best season came in 2015, where his 90.7 PFF grade, seven pass breakups and five interceptions had Mathieu in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year conversation.“
Mathieu also should have been in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year conversation in 2019, his only season thus far with the Chiefs. Yes, most of Mathieu’s dominance during the decade came away from Kansas City when he was with the Arizona Cardinals. We’re still claiming him, though, because he’s set to be in Kansas City for the foreseeable future.
Few players in this decade have had the type of versatility that Mathieu has in his game. We’re talking about a player that lines up everywhere from deep safety to linebacker spots. He’s an all-around defensive weapon and the Chiefs really have given him a lot of freedom within the scheme to do what he does best, which is getting after the football.
No. 60 – LB Derrick Johnson
“A player who made our All-Decade team as a second-team linebacker, Johnson was one of the most versatile and consistently impressive defenders of the decade. He played in multiple different defensive schemes within the Kansas City Chiefs defense and was equally effective regardless of what he was asked to do. While his run defense began to suffer late in his career, his coverage remained a plus right up until he retired. He excelled at the area of the game most linebackers struggle with, and for his career allowed a passer rating of just 84.5 when targeted, around 20 points lower than the average among linebackers. Johnson was a difference-maker in the most important facet of the game.“
Even without playing during most of the 2014 and 2018 seasons, and retiring following 2018, Johnson still had five seasons during the 2010s decade with over 100 total tackles. He was a tackle machine in Kansas City and the heart of the defense for many years, including some of the really bad ones. Even as he reached the latter part of his career he was still giving his everything on the field for the Chiefs. They’ve been looking for a linebacker to replace that presence ever since he left Kansas City and they’ve struggled to find it because players like Johnson are truly rare.
It didn’t matter his responsibility on defense, he always found his way around the football making a play. Johnson could be blowing up a screen pass, knifing into the backfield to create a tackle for loss, covering a tight end up the seam or hitting the quarterback on a blitz. He also was the play-caller for the defense, routinely getting the team lined up and in position to best have a chance at making a stop.
No. 50 – TE Travis Kelce
“There is little doubt that Rob Gronkowski was the best tight end of the past decade — and one of the best of all time — but Travis Kelce has been the second-best for much of that time. Kelce earned a second-team nod on our All-Decade team; he has long been one of the best receiving weapons in the league and averages more than six yards after the catch per reception for his career, having broken 91 tackles across his six seasons. Kelce can run routes like a receiver and run away from defenders after the catch like few players the game has ever seen at that position. He has already displayed significantly more staying power than players like Jimmy Graham, whose time at the top is already looking substantially more like a flash in the pan.“
I know there will be some Chiefs fans that won’t like Monson slotting Gronkowski ahead of Kelce. They might have an argument there too because Kelce is still breaking new ground as a receiver that Gronk never could. In 2020, Kelce will have the chance to add a fifth consecutive season with over 1,000 receiving yards. He’s the only tight end to ever have four such consecutive seasons already.
His ability as a receiver is uncanny. He’s a mismatch against linebackers, safeties, and cornerbacks. There is really no one in the NFL that can consistently cover Kelce. At only 31 years old, Kelce should have many more good years left. If he sticks in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes for the remainder of his career he’ll have a chance to set a number of NFL records for a tight end during the next decade.
