Joseph Hefner

Writer at KC Sports Network Newsletter

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Articles

2025 Rest Advantage

1 week ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

I wrote about the schedule last week, and discussed strength of schedule and early odds for the games. Something else that comes up immediately after the schedules all come out is the idea of “rest advantage”. Rest advantage is when one team has more days rest than the other team when they play. Perhaps Team A played on Sunday, while Team B played on Monday, and now they are playing each other on Sunday.
2025 Strength of Schedule

2 weeks ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

The NFL just released the 2025 NFL Schedule, to much fanfare. We have known the opponents each team would face since the conclusion of the 2024 regular season, but now we know the when and where. Social media buzzes for a solid week about the biggest games each week, or how many prime time games teams play, or how many teams off bye weeks. The list goes on and on.
Draft Day Trades: 2025

3 weeks ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

One of my favorite parts of the NFL draft is the craziness that is draft day trades. Some teams trade several times, others do not trade at all. Some teams only trade up, others only trade down. Often it is a mix of the two. Sometimes these deals are pretty even, and other times it seems as though one team took the other to the cleaners. Calculating which team “won” or “lost” a trade is both a very simple and very complicated calculation.
AFC West Draft Roundup

1 month ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

Last week, I took a dive into the Chiefs 2025 draft class. Overall I liked it a lot. I felt day two (rounds 2 and 3) were full of reaches, which makes me hesitate. But days 1 and 3 were really good. And even the reaches on day two were for players who should see real playing time pretty quickly. This week, I’m going to do a short dive into each of our division rival’s draft classes. This article will be filled with graphics, so hopefully you’re a visual learner.
The Chiefs 2025 Draft Class

1 month ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

The greatest event in the history of sports just ended: the NFL draft. It was a beautiful time, full of first round RB’s and TE’s, a special someone falling right into our laps, a wild QB fall that Mel Kiper just cannot stop talking about, and so very, very much more. Let’s talk about the consensus boards for a minute. At this point, there are several. Arif Hasan is one of the pioneers of these boards. Jack Lichtenstein also has one, as does Mock Draft Database.
Mock Draft Roundup and Prediction

1 month ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

The draft is nearly here. After months and months of effort, after so many gallons of blood and ink have spilt, the draft is nearly here. In the next several days, you will stand witness to some of the most insane histrionics known to man. Teams will make bad decisions. Fans will go apoplectic. Teams will make good decisions. Fans will go apoplectic. Teams will draft a running back or tight end in the first round. Fans will cheer and celebrate.
Defensive Draft Depth: 2025

1 month ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

Looking at PFF’s mock draft simulator, PFF lists the Chiefs top 3 needs as guard, tackle, and defensive line. Pro Football Network says defensive tackle, guard, and edge rusher. NFL.com says defensive line, offensive line, and edge rusher. Basically, everyone thinks the Chiefs need to bolster the trenches on both sides of the line. Last week, we talked about the offensive depth in this class. We found that it’s a surprisingly good year for running backs compared to the past 5 drafts (2020-2024).
Offensive Draft Depth: 2025

2 months ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

We are three weeks out from the draft, which means it’s finally time to start paying attention to all those mock drafts and big boards we’ve been seeing for the past month. Huzzah!! Those boards change quite a bit in March and early April, but they settle down a few weeks after the Combine. That means I can break out one of my favorite draft graphics for the next two weeks.
Is the NFL Draft Efficient?

2 months ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

Every year an incredible amount of paper and ink, both digital and material, is spilled by teams, scouts, analysts, and amateur prognosticators about the NFL draft. People spend incredible amounts of time and energy watching tape, studying plays, looking through stats, building models, creating color-coded spreadsheets, and more. If you’re reading this, you are probably the exact sort of person for whom these people are doing all this work.
The Combine and the NFL Draft

2 months ago | kcsn.com | Joseph Hefner

Free agency is basically over. The Chiefs brought back several of their own players (Nick Bolton, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquise Brown, Kareem Hunt, and others). They also brought in a new left tackle and running back from SF (Jaylon Moore, Elijah Mitchell), and a cornerback (Kristian Fulton) from the Chargers. There will be a few more signings in the next several weeks, but the free agency craze is over.