Chiefs Roster: Preparing to see familiar (but respected) Chargers team

On Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs will open their 2025 regular season in São Paulo, Brazil against the Los Angeles Chargers. Meeting with reporters before starting the week’s practices on Sunday, head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and cornerback Trent McDuffie shared their thoughts on the looming division opponent.

Mahomes moved on to preparing for the Chargers immediately after Kansas City’s final preseason game against the Chicago Bears — but after looking at the Week 1 game plan, the quarterback believes the coaching staff got there first.

“I think it’s a good game plan,” remarked the league’s biggest star. “I think coaches have kind of been on it even before we finished that last preseason game.”

Mahomes has a good feel for what Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter — whose unit allowed a league-low 301 points in 2024 — might bring, because Los Angeles could have been Kansas City’s divisional round opponent last season.

“Obviously, I have a good feel for stuff they did last year,” Mahomes noted. “You play them twice, and then we had that [postseason] bye week. So, I was watching Chargers film with the possibility of playing them in the playoffs last year. They’re a good defense; they’re a really good defense on every single level. They have great players. They’re coached really well by Coach Minter, and they’re going to come in with the right mentality.

“So it’s about us accepting the challenge, and I feel like we have a good game plan in so far. We’ll keep adding to that throughout the week, but you’ve got to be able to execute on a play-by-play basis in order to move the football, because they will capitalize on all miscues and take advantage of their opportunities.”

The biggest offseason question surrounding the Chiefs has been the team’s young offensive line. A deep Chargers front seven led by veteran pass rusher Khalil Mack will be a good test.

“I think every step of the way so far,” remarked Mahomes of his blockers, “they’ve done a great job of getting better and better and kind of checking those boxes, and so this will be a great test for them. This is a prolific D-line with Khalil Mack — and really all [the others]. They have depth at edge and at D-tackle — and they were one of the best defenses in the league this last year. So, it’ll be another test for [our] guys — and I’m excited for them to go out there, accept the challenge and showcase who they are.”

Reid identified Mack — along with safety Derwin James — as difficult players to plan for.

“They’re a zone team,” observed the coach, “but the zones are tight, and they have a bunch of different combinations. Plus, they can play man — and they do that well — but the way their zones are, they do a heck of a job with that. You can see why they were ranked so high. They’re trying not to give up the big play, obviously, but at the same time, [making offenses] be unable to attack underneath. They’ve got good speed on the defense, and those front guys — 52 [Mack] is heck of a player and that number 3 [James] is not bad, either.”

The Chiefs will be playing without wideout Rashee Rice, who will be starting a six-game suspension. Mahomes knows losing Rice’s talents is a blow, but he trusts that general manager Brett Veach has built a receiver room that can overcome the third-year pro’s absence.

“Obviously,” said Mahomes, “losing a receiver of that magnitude — [who is] that good — it takes away from the offense in a sense. At the same time, Veach and [his staff] have brought in a lot of receiver depth so that guys can step up and take over that role in different spots. It won’t be just one guy. It’ll be multiple guys that will do some of the stuff that Rashee has done. Then, other guys will step up at other spots and make plays as well.”

On the other side of the ball, McDuffie noted the Chargers’ strong running attack. In the passing game, there is no doubt they are built around second-year receiver Ladd McConkey, who remains less familiar to Kansas City than we might expect.

“Last year, we only played him once,” McDuffie reminded his listeners. “He was hurt that second time we played them, so we really don’t have [a lot of] film on him… The things that I’ve seen, I really like how he plays: his space [and his] separation out of the breaks. [He runs] really good routes — and you can just tell his timing with Justin Herbert over the course of the year really got better and better. So he’s a really good receiver — and I think it’s going to be a really good challenge for us on the back end to go out there and see what we’re about.”

However the Chargers attack the Chiefs, McDuffie knows he and his teammates will have their hands full.

“I think they do really good at just running their offense,” he noted, “and not caring what the defense throws at them. They’re really well-coached. I think they’re going to be a really good challenge for us — to go out there Week 1, be able to stop the run and make plays on the back end.”