Chiefs Best Wideout Corps “Ever”

Laddie Morse

“Each guy in that room does something unique…

I think that’s what makes that room so special.

And obviously, with 15 back there and Coach Reid

calling the plays, we can pretty much do anything.”

– MVS

The term of the “Fab Five” has been thrown around ever since GM Brett Veach selected five DBs in the recent draft in April. However, most of the pundits who follow the Kansas City Chiefs — including me — have been projecting that the final 53-man roster would keep six, or even more, WRs, but when all was said and done, they kept –> five. On the Defensive side, the team kept four out of the five men they drafted in the defensive backfield, so, we could say the Fab Five, is referring to the five wideouts the Chiefs kept, which includes: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson and rookie Skyy Moore.

Some of the wide receivers the Chiefs have had in years past have been outstanding, and the years when Tyreek Hill was here should not be taken for granted, not in the least bit. The Chiefs 2021 group of WRs included:

2,808 receiving yards for the 2021 Wide Receiving crew should not be anywhere near what Mahomes and his new group achieve this year. Then there’s the 2020 Wideout group which produced:

That’s 2,894 receiving yards for the Wide Receiving group in 2020. A year that included Sammy Watkins? A disproportionate amount of the targets went Hill’s way. Rightfully so, especially when you consider his speed and skill at getting open. It makes sense to me now that Mecole Hardman is the only remaining WR from those teams, this year. It’s been noted in this year’s Training Camp that Hardman is getting all the Tyreek Hill routes and snaps, with his 4.33 speed, and why the neck not?

Let’s jump backwards ten years before that when Dwayne Bowe was the Chiefs leading receiver. The year was 2010. Bowe had led the league in receiving TDs with 15. Here’s how the Chiefs WRing corp did that year:

The Chiefs top six WR had 1,808 yards receiving. Sure, Matt Cassel was the QB, and Dexter McCluster was also a RB, but that shouldn’t matter, since the Lion’s greatest WR, Calvin Johnson, had 1,964 yards receiving two years later (2012). A fair comparison or not, the implication is obvious.

Now, it’s still hard to think of this year’s group of wideouts catching less than 3,000 yards. If we strictly break up the receiving yards to five different receivers, each would need to bring home 600 yards per wideout. Since I strongly believe at least one of the Chiefs Wideout will have a thousand yard receiving season (probably JuJu), that leaves 2,000 to be broken up between four other WRs. That then becomes 500 receiving yards per receiver.

One benefit of having Tyreek Hill move on is… it makes everyone in the WR room get better. While I’m sure no one is thinking, “Oh, I need to replace Tyreek Hill”… simply because no one person can replace Hill: not his speed, or ability to get open once a play breaks down.

Another benefit of having Tyreek Hill move on is… Patrick Mahomes gets better. It’s been suggested that Mahomes leaned on Hill too often and while I can see that this may have happened due to Hill’s quickness and familiarity with Mahomes, we can also project a similar outcome for receivers like JuJu Smith-Schuster who stands 3 inches taller than Hill and MVS who stands over half a foot, 7 inches, taller. We’ve witnessed that in Training Camp when Mahomes would throw the ball up high near the side lines or at the back of the endzone, so his WRs could go up and get it. We’ve wanted to see Mahomes develop that kind of report with his receivers before, but now that he has the WRs who can do it, that should become part of the field that other teams will have to guard. Which, may be impossible.

The biggest adjustment for the Chiefs receivers is: who are the Chiefs this year? That should be answered mostly by finding out just how good these wide receivers are. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman, Justin Watson and Skyy Moore should be able to answer that question right out of the gate.

Let’s go clear back to 1969, the year K.C. broke through and won their first Super Bowl. Their stable of WRs included: Otis Taylor, Gloster Richardson, Frank Pitts and Noland Smith. Here’s the WRs receiving yards from 1969:

As you can tell, the league wasn’t a Passing League yet and the total of all the Chiefs WRs was only 1,700. Taylor had his best year in 1971 with 1,110 yards (Yes, I am a supporter of Otis Taylor becoming a Hall of Famer!). There’s a good chance the Chiefs will have two one-thousand yard receivers this season, and that could change everything. Then there’s the Montana bunch from 1993:

The grand total for that team in 1993 was 1,923 receiving yards. Still, we haven’t jumped into the Passing Era yet, but it’s a good way to compare and contrast these Chiefs with those in our treasured past. Here’s a play from that year which is etched into my memory bank forever:

Should we expect big things from this years wide receiving crew? Yes, absolutely! I’m so hyped up on this year WRs that I don’t think there is another team out there who can match up with them. Especially when you throw in our standout group of TEs… or RBs… and I haven’t even talked about any of them. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I agree with this –> “Marquez Valdes-Scantling thinks Chiefs’ WR group can be special.”

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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