The Kansas City Chiefs are sitting right about where they ended the 2011 season in the first NFL Power Rankings to come out over at ESPN before the 2012 NFL Draft. The Chiefs finished at middling 7-9 last year, but found a few positive notes after Todd Haley was fired and Romeo Crennel took over. Now heading into the draft, the Chiefs are rated No. 17 in the NFL.
ESPN's scouting report reads, "Getting healthy will make a big difference for the Chiefs, who are under new leadership with Romeo Crennel. But is that enough to make up ground in the AFC West?" The injured players last season for the Chiefs were many with Matt Cassel out for half of the season and Jamaal Charles, Tony Moeaki and Eric Berry out for basically the entire year. Combine those players with the new free agent class and KC has reason to hope -- more so than the No. 17 position in the NFL.
Still nothing is official until the games are played and the Chiefs will have to earn that respect on the field. That won't come until the regular season starts.