Brett Veach is living the consequences after the Kansas City Chiefs failed to make the playoffs for the first time since Patrick Mahomes took the reins of the offense.
The miss has altered the pecking order in the division: the Chiefs are no longer the team to beat, and the margin for error around Arrowhead has narrowed sharply. In an offseason review, Cody Williams of FanSided gave Veach a B grade for what the general manager has done in the past couple of months, praising the addition of Kenneth Walker III even as Williams warned that other questions remain unresolved. Williams awarded A grades to the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers — a clean signal that the road to a division crown will be tougher than it has been in recent years.
That shift matters today because every rival in the afc west has gotten significantly better either last year or this offseason, according to the assessment that accompanied the grades. The combination of the Chiefs’ playoff absence and the upgrades by Los Angeles and Las Vegas has reframed expectations: Kansas City can no longer assume home-field advantage in divisional play or an easy path back to the top.
Where the B grade earns Veach credit is obvious: the Walker signing brings a clear, one-line upgrade to the backfield. But the grading also highlighted several uncomfortable gaps. Last season the Chiefs did not pursue a big-name pass catcher. They did not replace Jawaan Taylor. The depth behind Kenneth Walker III is described as rather suspect. And the lack of insurance behind Rashee Rice was singled out as a major concern — a compounding problem now that Rice faces both a serious knee injury and legal trouble that will cost him a month in jail.
That last point is the tension in the story. Even if Rice makes a full physical recovery, there are no guarantees he will return to the field unencumbered: he might still be suspended. Putting the two facts together — a key young receiver who may not be available, and a front office that skipped a high-end pass-catching addition last season — creates a roster mismatch against two divisional opponents coming off A grades. On paper, the Chiefs have a headline back and a superstar quarterback; in practice, their protection at tackle, their receiving insurance, and their running-back depth beyond Walker were all flagged as liabilities.
The practical consequence is blunt: Veach’s B is a warning, not an accolade. It acknowledges a useful move but marks the job as incomplete. If Kansas City wants to reclaim its standing in the division, the front office must address those gaps in a way that changes matchups — not just paper upgrades but real, playable depth that survives injury and off-field disruption. With the Raiders and Chargers graded higher this offseason and the Chiefs carrying unresolved roster questions into training camp, the franchise will enter its next calendar with less margin for error than at any point since Mahomes became the central force of the offense.
For Brett Veach that narrows the calendar into a simple, unavoidable demand: convert the B into work that reads like an A. Leaving the tackle spot thin, failing to add receiving insurance, and relying on a backfield depth chart described as fragile will not be enough against improved division rivals. The conclusion is plain — the Chiefs’ recent moves are a start, but not the corrective required to stop their fall from the top of a suddenly tougher AFC West.
