Interesting note here from former NFL exec Michael Lombardi who is writing for The Ringer. He says that the Kansas City Chiefs have the highest percentage of players remaining from their 2016 53-man roster.

KC currently has 49 of their 16 53 man roster on their team heading into the draft, meanwhile, the Bills have the lowest 34. Avg is 42.6 — Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) April 21, 2017

Looking at the date, this came before the Jaye Howard release but the point remains. The Chiefs are trying to make another run at this thing with the group that they have remaining. Jamaal Charles is gone. Derrick Johnson’s future is murky. This might be Alex Smith and Tamba Hali’s last run. Jeremy Maclin’s future could help be decided by this season. It feels like we are on the verge of passing the torch to Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Chris Jones and Marcus Peters but there is still a veteran presence on this team for 2017. The Chiefs aren’t ready to blow it up yet nor should they be.

As much as we fret about losing a guy like Jaye Howard the Chiefs have a strong roster. They can avoid a rebuilding year if they can successfully transition on from Alex Smith to a new quarterback. They have two years left on Alex’s contract to do it. That’s why many people want the Chiefs to draft a quarterback this year. That gives them plenty of time - one year or two - to develop their guy so he can step into a post-Alex world with a stacked roster and continue putting up 10-plus win seasons (oh and maybe a Super Bowl).