Super Bowl Recap, Jordan Palmer and the Mailbag

Possible dark future for Kansas City Chiefs, plus Jordan Palmer joins the pod.
Super Bowl Recap, Jordan Palmer and the Mailbag
Super Bowl Recap, Jordan Palmer and the Mailbag /

Albert Breer breaks down Tom Brady winning his record seventh Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, how Bucs DC Todd Bowles was able to put together a defensive plan that shut down the Chiefs, the growth that will come from Patrick Mahomes in the wake of a Super Bowl loss, why it isn't going to be automatic for the Kansas City Chiefs to be back in the Super Bowl next year and some predictions on what will happen with the quarterback carousel in the offseason. We also talk to former NFL quarterback Jordan Palmer on why so many teams had offensive line struggles this season. We wrap things up with SI's fantasy analyst Michael Fabiano on some of his fantasy wishes for the offseason and, of course, the mailbag.

The following transcript is an excerpt from The Albert Breer Show. Listen to the full episode on podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.

Albert Breer: Takeaway number four, I don't think it's automatic that the Chiefs are right back here next year. And the reason why is the offensive line issue that they have is a problem. Their salary cap situation is going to be interesting going forward; Patrick Mahomes' numbers really jump this year. 

There are some other guys on that roster where you look at the cap numbers and they're going up. I think you look at the Chiefs' situation and you have to question how they're going to fix the offensive line. And this was a group that to some degree, struggled in the Super Bowl last year with the healthy group. This year obviously was a major problem. Eric Fisher is 30 years old, coming off an Achilles [injury]. Mitch Schwartz is going to be 32 years old going into a contract year. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif turns 30 this week. He'd be coming off the opt-out year, and Austin Reiter the center is 30 and a free agent. 

So there are four guys, four of the five starters—the natural starters for the team that are in their 30s. There's just some work to be done there, and it's going to be interesting to see what the Chiefs do. It wouldn't surprise me if because of all this, the offensive line becomes a major, major emphasis of theirs when we get to the draft. I don't know what you can do with their cap situation free agency–wise to fix this. So it wouldn't surprise me that the Chiefs have a big emphasis on the offensive line in the draft. It is a good offensive line group in this year's draft. And so it's going to be fascinating to see what they wind up doing in that area because I think that area really needs to get younger, and they need to find a way to build some depth in that group.

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Albert Breer
ALBERT BREER

Albert Breer is a senior writer covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated, delivering the biggest stories and breaking news from across the league. He has been on the NFL beat since 2005 and joined SI in 2016. Breer began his career covering the New England Patriots for the MetroWest Daily News and the Boston Herald from 2005 to '07, then covered the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News from 2007 to '08. He worked for The Sporting News from 2008 to '09 before returning to Massachusetts as The Boston Globe's national NFL writer in 2009. From 2010 to 2016, Breer served as a national reporter for NFL Network. In addition to his work at Sports Illustrated, Breer regularly appears on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, FS1 with Colin Cowherd, The Rich Eisen Show and The Dan Patrick Show. A 2002 graduate of Ohio State, Breer lives near Boston with his wife, a cardiac ICU nurse at Boston Children's Hospital, and their three children.