Laddie Morse
First of all, let’s address the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs postponed their practice yesterday — until today — because of an emergency that resulted in DE B.J. Thompson being transported to the hospital. Thompson was diagnosed with cardiac arrest, but is now in stable condition. He had a seizure at a team meeting and was transported to the hospital immediately. In an article by the guardian.com written by Betsy Reed it said:
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“… the team’s medical staff were able to react
quickly and treat Thompson until paramedics arrived.”
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Thoughts and prayers for B.J. Thompson.
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Re-signing of Mecole Hardman
Next, let’s address the re-signing of WR Mecole Hardman and what that means for the WR room. While the re-signing of Mecole Hardman may raise the floor of the WR group, it does not raise the ceiling. That means the Chiefs are adding a WR — in Hardman — who knows the playbook and the offense, but really does nothing more to raise the bar as far as the top level of the group’s skills is concerned. IOW, Hardman is not the signing of a top level WR.
What Mecole can provide is a target that Patrick Mahomes is familiar with and can provide a reliable face who he can throw to –> during the initial design of a play. Hardman has never been one to connect with Mahomes on the extension of plays, but can be another speed man to stretch the field, because of his 4.33 speed.
Hardman was likely re-signed with the understanding that he’d make the roster and not the idea that he has any guarantee to be a starter. That’s important because K.C. likes to run a competitive Training camp and that kind of guarantee doesn’t match with that kind of objective.
It appears that the re-signing of Mecole Hardman was a sign of dissatisfaction with the current configuration of their WR corp. Was it motivation for Kadarius Toney or some others? Only time will tell.
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How the Mecole Re-signing Effects Others
Louis Rees-Zammit has been destined for the Practice Squad and no amount of hoping should get him on the 53 man squad this year. While Rashee Rice is a question mark at this point, David Bell makes a good point about the NFL not assessing any punitive actions until the legal courts have had their say and since Rice may not even see the inside of a courtroom until after this season is over, he may be spending the whole year as an active player for the Chiefs.
Then there’s the question of whether or not the Chiefs will keep six or seven wide receivers this year. They’ve been keeping six so that’s the number I’m going with. Here is a list of the Chiefs Wide Receivers, but based on them usually keeping six, you can see the dilemma:
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After the top three, who are locks… I’m pretty sure K.C. is keeping Justin Watson, but then it’s a high draft pick in Skyy Moore who keeps having very good offseasons, but fades once the regular season begins. Or… is it Mecole Hardman who may have been guaranteed a roster spot? Or… is it Kadarius Toney who has been called the Chiefs best wideout by coaches and fellow players. Or… is it UDFA Nikko Remigio who has already been called he best WR in OTAs. Or… is it the experiment of Justyn Ross. Or… is it Cornell Powell, a 5th round draft pick from 2021. Questions. Questions. Answers to be forthcoming in Training Camp.
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WRs and Play Calling
The final WR grouping is important for Andy Reid to know since the plays he’ll be calling — uh, that OC Matt Nagy will be calling — are based upon the skills of those he has available at his beck and call. For instance, if he has Kadarius Toney, Reid and Nagy would call for a play that has him catching the ball in the flat or over the middle of the field (when he is able to hold onto the ball) in spaces where he can juke and jive and make his YAC moves. Although Toney runs a 4.38 I’ve yet to see him run a deep route.
If it’s Justin Watson, he runs a lot of deep out sideline patterns where he ends up toe-tapping for the catch.
If it’s Mecole Hardman, he may be best suited to play out of he slot. In an article by Ron Kopp called, “How Mecole Hardman made a case for more postseason snaps” he shows that Hardman caught most of his passes when he lined up in the slot. Here’s a tweet by Kopp showing one of his several slant catches out of the slot for K.C. versus the Chargers in week 18 last year:
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Kopp follows that up by saying:
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“Hardman lined up in the slot in Los Angeles for 69%
of his snaps, catching three passes that moved the
chains. On this slant pattern, he does a good job of
creating the necessary separation by initially selling
an outside move. Once the defender reacts, a quick
break back inside allows for an open completion
over the middle.”
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I’m glad the Chiefs re-signed Mecole Hardman, but we need to keep our expectations in check. Especially since he was the one who caught the game winning TD pass in the Super Bowl this past February.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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