With the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs meeting up in Week 1, there is no lack of great talent on the field. The Chiefs are two-time defending AFC champions with a Super Bowl victory two years ago while the Browns are a team that many note as “the most talented on paper in the NFL.”
The skill position players, more and more popular due to fantasy football, are some of the top names in the league. Patrick Mahomes is, arguably, the best quarterback in all of football with a lot of football ahead of him. Tyreek Hill is one of the most dynamic weapons in the game while Travis Kelce is in the conversation as the best tight end in the league.
Cleveland is far from lacking in skill players and, perhaps, are even deeper than Kansas City. Baker Mayfield leads the way at quarterback but Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt are the best backfield duo going today. Odell Beckham Jr. (returning from injury), Jarvis Landry, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Rashard Higgins are a deep, talented group of receivers while Austin Hooper and David Njoku are dangerous at tight end.
The matchup to watch for isn’t any of the names listed above. Instead, as it has for the longest time, it is in the trenches that could win or lose the game for either team. While the Chiefs have the highly talented Chris Jones and Jarran Reed on their defensive line, it is their offensive line where the key matchup lies for Week 1.
Kansas City’s loss in the Super Bowl has been blamed squarely and directly on their offensive line. The Chiefs must have agreed as they are looking at an entirely different line for Week 1 this year. Some of that was due to injuries to Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz. Fisher signed with Indianapolis but isn’t healthy for Week 1 while Schwartz is still recovering from injury and is a free agent.
Kansas City traded for Orlando Brown Jr., signed Joe Thuney to a big contract and drafted Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith to add four new starters to the roster. Lucas Niang is in his second season and steps in for Schwartz as the starting right tackle.
Cleveland made some additions to their defensive line but mainstay Myles Garrett remains to terrorize opponents. The Browns added Takk McKinley and Jadeveon Clowney at defensive end to help Garrett while Malik Jackson and Tommy Togiai were added inside along with getting Andrew Billings back from the COVID-19 opt-out list.
With so many new players on both sides of the ball, it is hard to point to a specific matchup especially with how Garrett is used by the Cleveland defense. The former #1 overall pick will likely lineup to go against whichever offensive lineman is best given the situation.
Given that, the key matchup to watch in Week 1 is Myles Garrett versus the Chiefs offensive line. In all cases, the edge goes to Garrett but the pressure is on the rest of the Cleveland defense to win their matchups as well.