Chiefs Veach: Play It Again Sammy – the Kansas City Chiefs General Manager, Brett Veach, is looking for another instrument to add to his band of wide receivers, someone who could step in, be great, but wouldn’t mind playing second fiddle to Tyreek Hill, or Travis Kelce for that matter. So maybe they’d have to accept playing third fiddle. The decision to release WR Sammy Watkins was a tough one, I’m sure. However, if this regime had big enough cajones to move on from K.C. fan favorites — and previously Pro Bowl performers — like Derrick Johnson or Eric Berry, they certainly could move on from Mr. Watkins, who each had difficulties staying healthy, and was “the” reason for their release.
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We must remember that three years ago, these same Chiefs signed Sammy Watkins in the first place. That’s important to remember because K.C. had Tyreek Hill back then as well and still saw fit to provide the offense with another top wideout. Hill was coming off of his first one-thousand yard season — 1,183 yards receiving to be exact — and was already, in his second season, ascending up the ranks of the league’s best at that position. However, Veach and HC Andy Reid wanted to provide first year starter, Patrick Mahomes, with all the weapons he could possibly need to succeed… and they did that by signing Sammy Watkins. Things just didn’t quite turn out the way they envisioned.
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Now, K.C. is back to square one with the wide receiver position. Well, maybe not square one, that would only happen if Hill was not on the team, but Brett Veach has been starring in his own movie this offseason and it’s called” “Play It Again Sammy.”
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So, why would Brett Veach want to go after another top notch wide receiver to add to their already potent offense? To begin with, the addition of Sammy Watkins, and his participation in the 2019 playoffs and Super Bowl LIV, were big reasons for Kansas City’s success there. Going to battle with Patrick Mahomes will always keep you in any game, but if he is targeting WR Tyreek Hill and TE Travis Kelce primarily (and some would say –> only) then a third dynamic option, such as Watkins, was/is a necessity, to ensure victory.
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So, this is the place we find ourselves in: needing to add another star wide out. It’s not like Brett Veach hasn’t been trying this offseason. I’m sure Andy Reid and Brett Veach agreed that one of their primary offseason goals was to… add another star wide out.
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While most will say the number one reason for the Chiefs loss in Super Bowl LV was the poor play of the backups inserted along the offensive line, and I’m not here today to disagree with that… however, it’s also true that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were able to effectively double-team the Chiefs two primary receiving weapons of Hill and Kelce.
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The good news is, the 2021 NFL Draft is deep in wide receivers and has some very good offensive tackles at the top of the draft. The bad news is, Brett Veach hasn’t been able to sign a significant Free Agent OT or WR… yet. At this point, it may be a matter of signing an OT or a top notch WR and which ever one gets signed (or traded for) prior to the draft… then the opposite one will be the top pick for K.C.. For example: if Veach signs a F/A OT like Alejandro Villanueva… then K.C. would likely target a WR in the first round…. and… if Veach signs a F/A WR like, say, Antonio Brown… then K.C. would likely target an OT in the first round.
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Now, I’m in no way campaigning or supporting the idea that Veach should sign Antonio Brown. It’s the idea behind the signing-and-drafting relationship, which I’d like to emphasize here. I know it sounds remarkably simplistic, but at this point, it appears the Chiefs have those two scenarios to consider… or working against them.
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Since I’m a firm believer that Veach would never enter a draft with a “Must Draft That Position” sign hanging over his head, I can only project that sometime in the next four weeks — because the draft begins four weeks from today — he’ll sign or trade for a player in at least one of those positions.
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Consequently, the Chiefs have been linked to several top wide out free agents this off season. A bevy of sports websites were predicting that Kenny Golladay was connected to the Chiefs and could end up here. That, of course, didn’t happen. So, trade possibilities have also come up this offseason.
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David Bell pitched the possibility of trading WR Mecole Hardman to me over a month ago. He assured me that he’s a Hardman fan and supporter — as am I — but in the end, Hardman may not be a fit for Andy Reid’s offense and he may also never make the proper adjustments to get in sync with Patrick Mahomes. While Hardman is very fast, a necessary aspect of his game for which he was drafted, there have been too many times when Mahomes was waving at him, and pointing with his hands, following a failed play, as if to ask him, “Why didn’t you turn the other way.” The reason for bringing Hardman up is that it looks like he doesn’t have the necessary tools to become “that guy” — the third highly effective option for Mahomes to throw to — someone who will always be where he needs to be in order to help his QB. Trust and dependability are essential in that WR/QB relationship. Hardman doesn’t seem to have it.
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Is there a possibility that Hardman could end up in a trade for a third round pick? In a draft filled with excellent wide receiver prospects, I can see that happening and then also see Veach selecting a top WR with one of those four top 94 picks. BTW… that was also David Bell’s idea. One I support.
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If you think that’s not a possibility, then ask yourself why would Veach be interested in a guy like WR JuJu Smith-Schuster? It’s also rumored (and I have no way to confirm this one), that the Chiefs are currently interested in WR Antonio Brown. SporteNaut.com says of the Chiefs this offseason:
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Kansas City has done well to navigate through the offseason after earning a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance. Even then, there’s some concerns at wide receiver. This is one of the reasons that the Chiefs were in on JuJu Smith-Schuster before he re-signed with the conference-rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
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You may recall, almost two years ago, Chiefs Wire ran a piece saying the Chiefs were interested in Antonio Brown. At that time, Watkins had been hurt for much of his first season with K.C. and started only 9 games that year. So, Veach may have been wanting to secure another wide receiving star to pair with Hill even then. As it turned out, Watkins came to life in 2019, mainly (starting 13 games), enough to help K.C. nab it’s first Super Bowl berth, and then Super Bowl victory, in 50 years.
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If the Chiefs were pressed into taking a WR in one of the first two rounds, here would be their choices according to the five major mock generators that I know of:
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There are a lot of excellent wideouts in this draft and most of these WRs shown above would be great when paired with Mahomes, Hill and Kelce. Who do you like most?
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It’s that “2019 Sammy Watkins” which Brett Veach has been looking to replace or more appropriately, replicate. However, Watkins only had 673 yards receiving in the regular season in 2019, the most in 3 years with the Chiefs (1,613 receiving yards in three seasons with K.C.), but it was his 288 receiving yards in three playoff games that made all the difference and issued in what we thought would become the beginning of a dynasty. Now, the Chiefs are looking to get back to the big show, but it will take identifying and securing another big time wide receiver… as well as a stud offensive tackle.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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BTW, in the 1942 movie “Casablanca,” the song that Sam, the piano player, wasn’t supposed to play was: “As Time Goes By.”
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