Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs already licking their chops for a Super Bowl repeat

The Kansas City Chiefs are getting the band back together and will try to accomplish the extremely difficult task of repeating as Super Bowl Champions.

The Kansas City Chiefs are taking an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to assembling their team for the 2020 NFL season. On Friday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter announced that the Chiefs worked out a restructured deal for wide receiver Sammy Watkins, allowing the veteran to return in 2020 while also freeing up a significant amount of salary cap space for Kansas City.

This was a smart move for both the Chiefs and for Watkins. While the wide receiver played extremely well in the playoffs, Watkins’ regular-season numbers did not live up to his hefty contract. Before restructuring his deal, the Chiefs had a reported $177 in salary cap space so the team likely would have been forced cut Watkins as a cost-savings measure.

The wide receiver market has been especially cool during this free agency period and given Watkins’ history of injuries and inconsistent play, it was unlikely he would find a better deal on the open market.

This situation is perfect for Watkins. He can now lock-in for the 2020 season and try to make as much money as possible from his incentive-laden contract. He’ll get to play in a familiar offense, with the best quarterback in football and he will benefit from Tyreek Hill and Travis Kecle drawing the attention of opposing defenses. If he has a big year, he can hit the open market next offseason hunting for a big payday.

Oh yeah, and he has a chance to win another Super Bowl.

Following the announcement of the deal, Watkins hopped on Twitter to celebrate his official return to Kansas City.

Watkins’ return also got the Patrick Mahomes seal of approval.

Mahomes is right that the Chiefs are looking to #runitback. After securing Watkins and using the franchise tag on defensive tackle, Chris Jones, Kansas City will be will be returning nearly all of its key players from 2019. From ESPN’s Field Yates:

The Chiefs were far from invincible last season but they were actually a lot better than a glance at their 2019 schedule might indicate. Kansas City only lost four of the 19 games it played, including the playoffs. Three of the four teams the Chiefs lost to made the playoffs with one of those losses coming at the hands of the Green Bay Packers when Mahomes was out of the lineup recovering from a dislocated knee. The Chiefs lost to the Titans in Mahomes’ first game back from that injury and then didn’t lose another game, finishing the season on a nine-game win streak.

While the rest of the NFL makes moves to catch up to the Chiefs, Kansas City is keeping its core team together for another Super Bowl run.