Heading into the 2025 season, expectations were sky-high for the Kansas City Chiefs and second-year safety, Jaden Hicks. But it quickly turned into a face-first fall for both. After Justin Reid walked in free agency, Hicks was supposed to step into a major role, but he logged only 11 defensive snaps against the Houston Texans in Week 14, straining his already flat run. That’s exactly why Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo is pushing him to show up, while calling out his mistakes.

“I think if you asked Jaden, he’d tell ya he’s kind of had an up-and-down season,” Spags said. “But there have been flashes of good football play there. We’re going to need him now as we get down the stretch here…I’ve brought him in a couple times, and he’s made some mistakes I wouldn’t have thought he would’ve made in his second season.”

But it’s something that didn’t sit well with Adam Best of Arrowhead Addict. Best called out the DC, noting, “Spags is consistently unwilling to live through the growing pains young players must experience and instead keeps inferior athletes on the field because they know his precious scheme. We’ve seen this over and over with him.”

The way things played out, Best wasn’t exaggerating, and the numbers back him up. The Chiefs took Hicks in the fourth round in 2024, and he actually delivered as a rookie. Even while sitting behind Reid, Bryan Cook, and Chamarri Conner and playing barely 30% of the defensive snaps, he still graded out as one of the team’s most productive defenders. His metrics were legit too, allowing just 2.6 yards of separation and only 2.3 yards after the catch per reception.

But once Reid left, Hicks was supposed to level up into a bigger role. And that’s where he’s struggled. If the Week 14 loss to the Texans showed anything, it’s why Chiefs fans are calling out Spags for barely using him. Hicks logged only 11 snaps, while Mike Edwards played 37. With that kind of discrepancy, Best’s criticism makes sense. But the real question is: Does the argument actually hold up?

Again, the numbers might tell a twisted story. Hicks has suited up for all 13 games this season and is still very much part of the rotation. Yes, Cook leads the safety room with 588 snaps in 2025, but Hicks isn’t exactly buried. The second-year safety has logged 353 defensive snaps. It’s already 23 more than his entire rookie total across a full 17-game season. His snap share has jumped, too, climbing from 31% to 46%.

So when you look at both sides, it’s not that Steve Spagnuolo is choosing veterans over Hicks. It’s just that Hicks hasn’t consistently delivered when he’s been on the field. And with the Chiefs dangerously close to falling out of playoff contention for the first time in years, his defensive coordinator simply needs him to bounce back. Fast. As for Patrick Mahomes, he wants the same thing…but from his whole roster.

Patrick Mahomes wants his team to handle the business

The Chiefs keep failing to handle the mess they have made this season. And their Week 14 loss to Houston only adds to their streak of struggles this season. They’re officially out of the running in their division. And while sitting at a 6-7 record, even making the playoffs isn’t in their hands. That’s why Patrick Mahomes wants to win down the stretch and his players to handle the business.

“I always want to win,” the quarterback said. “I don’t know what the percentages are, but I know they’re not high. I think it’d be special to get into the playoffs and make a run.”

The playoff percentage for the Chiefs is pretty much bruised at the moment. As we speak, the Texans, Buffalo Bills, and the Los Angeles Chargers own the wildcard spot if the season ended today. If the Chiefs want to secure a playoff berth, they need to win all the remaining games. But even that won’t be enough, as they have only a 15% chance of making the postseason.

What they need now is to hope that the Chargers lose a couple of games, and the twist is that the Chiefs play the Chargers this weekend. The math is clear: Defeat L.A., win the rest of the games, and hope the Denver Broncos also beat the Chargers in the regular season finale. That’s exactly why Mahomes wants his players to handle things from here:

“At the end of the day, we know that we’ve got to handle our business first. We’ve got to win the football games, and the rest handle itself.”

Mahomes now has to lean on everyone around him: receivers, backs, tight ends, defense, the whole roster. And with the margin for error basically gone, it’s easy to see why Spags is also pushing Hicks to bounce back in these final four games.