Chiefs: Worrying Over the WR Warts

David Bell

Last week, Phillip Maxwell of ArrowheadOne, and myself, had a couple of exchanges in comments about the Kansas City Chiefs Wide Receiver group. Previously, it was my view that the talent of the WR Group would shine through and be a force with enough power to win throughout the season. That remains probable, as far as winning the AFC West division is concerned.

Then came the disastrous game at Mile High. Not only were there drops by WRs, but fumbles and miscues. Mecole Hardman had one of the most inopportune fumbles on a punt deep in Chiefs territory. Early on, Marquez Valdez-Scantling received a pass and then was stripped of the Ball. Skyy Moore muffed a reception in the end zone and Rashee Rice also had a horrible muffed reception that stalled a drive.

Meanwhile, our soon-to-be GOAT was playing more like a goat and two INTs plus a fumble dotted his outing. Mahomes was also sacked twice, which indicated: 1) the OL failed in protection or, 2) Mahomes could not dodge the rush or, 3) he couldn’t deliver a timely pass or, 4) all of the above. Meanwhile, Phil, commenting about his ideas, wrote that he believed that the Chiefs should try to make a meaningful signing of a top WR, before the Trade Deadline this past Tuesday. After the loss at Denver, I switched my view, and drastically so. We need these young WRs but they are not reliable targets… yet!

Besides all that, the reality remains, the Chiefs do not have a true #1 WR.

I chose Deandre Hopkins as the most logical target for Veach to acquire and I had written the same idea previously in the offseason of last year, that he would be a great addition to the WR Corps… but, alas, It didn’t happen. A trade could have been orchestrated before the trade deadline. I will admit that I had personal reservations about Hopkins due to his off-field antics at the same time. I saw no reason to even consider Mike Evans as that trade would have cost a bundle that the Chiefs most certainly would not be willing to ante up.

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Standing Pat

The Trade deadline clock ran out and the Chiefs did not make a move. Andy Reid, when asked a question about whether the Chiefs had the talent in the WR group (are they good enough), Reid replied with an affirmative.

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Andy Reid – Chiefs photo

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I can say this much: I believe that Rashee Rice is emerging and speculated that he would achieve 800-yard receiving for the season (Rice has 361 receiving yards now). Like the other WRs, he had his foibles on Sunday. We have yet to see Kadarius Toney achieve the breakthrough that many have expected. Mecole Hardman has not come into any prominent use as a WR, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling is not garnering targets with enough success to make him a true threat. Justin Watson has been a better over-the-top target but is only sporadically a factor. Justyn Ross behaved himself off the roster, and as I observed, Skyy Moore has been unreliable.

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I Am a Bit Nonplussed

Final Thoughts on the Game vs. the Broncos

Patrick Mahomes killed three drives due to his own mistakes and was not playing as the QB we all know and love. All the factors that I mentioned above contributed to a dismal, disappointing outing in Colorado. Usually, when Mahomes has an off day, the rest of the team picks up the slack. However, on this day, they did not. The Broncos had a Kelce prevent defense that worked and the WRs did nothing to help. Kelce had 6 catches for 58 yards and a 9.7 YPC average, all below both his career and seasonal averages. The biggest probelm is, he didn’t catch a TD pass either. In fact, the Chiefs didn’t score a TD at all in this game.

The blown TD on Skyy Moore’s drop and the fumble in front of the endzone by Hardman — if those two errors had not taken place, it changed the whole football game. The Broncos would not have scored over 20 and the Chiefs at the point of Moore’s dropped TD Pass would have given KC 16 points. Different story altogether and highly possible that a different outcome would have been the result. 

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K.C. Prep for Their Trip to Germany

To be truthful, I was hopeful that Brett Veach would orchestrate a trade for a top WR, but it didn’t happen. I am not sure even a top-notch WR acquired in a trade would be able to contribute enough to make a difference in the next two games. As it turns out, speculation about such a trade was just that. All Speculation.

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Thoughts From Chiefs Staff

First: Ritchie James has been designated for return but how soon he will be ready is a question:

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Getting Richie James back would add experienced help.

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Second: Skyy Moore must match up his awareness with performance. Moore said this week:

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“I have to make the best of my opportunities.”

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My doubts about Moore have increased nonetheless. Here’s a video of Skyy Moore’s horrible dropped TD pass (0:09):

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Third: Andy Reid’s Comments from a Presser last week:

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“We’re gonna be okay there. We just keep getting better, all the way along. It’s not just a wide receiver thing. It’s all of us… a week ago, we were saying how good they did. So if we just keep the consistency going on the offensive side is what we need to do all the way around, not just wide receivers.”

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I know the coaching staff believes in the WR crew, but they have struggled in all but two games thus far. The reasons for questioning the WR corps remain. Would having a WR like Deandre Hopkins solve the problem? My answer is yes. It would force opponent defenses to account for him along with Kelce… plus another WR like MVS or Hardman running a deep route as well.

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The Travis Kelce Disappointment

Despite 58 yards on 6 catches, Kelce said:

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“That’s embarrassing man… Denver just had a lot more energy… [they] went into that game a little bit more hungry. And that’s making me sick to my stomach to feel or even say, but I think we got to, we got to have a gut check, especially on the offensive side of the ball.”

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Patrick Mahomes’s view was expressed earlier this week:

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“The right plays are being called and guys just have to execute. That’s what’s frustrating man. That’s what’s frustrating is that we’re not executing and we hold ourselves to a standard.”

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Mahomes was ill and I give him credit for playing despite that. No, I don’t think starting a backup was the answer. He is over the flu, but I forgot he had bandaged his left hand late in the game. The injury should not affect Mahomes vs. the Dolphins. He was able to finish the game after his non-throwing hand was stepped on. Here’s a quote from article by Logan Lazarczyk at ChiefsWire:

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“The Chiefs’ offense is now wholly reliant on Mahomes’ connection with Kelce, for better or worse. Unless one of Kansas City’s other pass catchers steps up in the coming weeks, fans should expect more of the same offensive dysfunction as the Chiefs fight for the top seed in the AFC’s playoffs.”

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Worries About the LBs

Willie Gay sustained a lower-back contusion and missed the late part of the game. Hence signing LB Darius Harris off of the Raiders practice squad makes a ton of sense.

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Photo credit: Jack Dempsey (AP)

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Mahomes and More

In his recent article detailing data from the Film Review of Week 8, Seth Keysor wrote:

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“We’ve got five years of experience to tell us Mahomes will get stuff right, so for me it’s somewhat good news that he was a part of the problem on Sunday. We’ll see how it looks moving forward, but it’s worth noting that picking just the receivers as The Thing isn’t completely accurate.”

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Ad-Lib Times Two: Mahomes and Kelce

Writing about Mahomes ad-libbing to get a first down brings us to Travis Kelce. My focus today is the WR corps, but Travis Kelce brings a special consideration. When Patrick Mahomes must scramble, Kelce finds a way to get open at the right moment which Nate Taylor writes about in his article at The Athletic, “How Travis Kelce’s improvisational route running helps him remain the NFL’s best tight end.“

Nate wrote last week:

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“Kelce, though, matched Mahomes’ ad-libbing with his own improvisation to reestablish eye contact with his quarterback. Mahomes released the ball and Kelce turned the short completion into an 11-yard gain. The highlight set up the Chiefs’ game-winning touchdown, an easy 4-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Kelce: I stepped up in the pocket and Travis is supposed to be (near) the sideline… Luckily, he was running across the field. I have those moments where I go, ‘Ah … I’m about to get crushed.’ Then I look over and (No.) 87 is just running free. He’s been with me a long time and knows how to get himself open.“

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Kelce Departing Mile High after the loss – Justin Edmonds Photo Credit

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I wrote an article a couple of weeks ago, titled “Chiefs: Where are the Mahomes’ Miracles? I worried about Mahomes not being himself. The next game, the Chiefs overwhelmed the Chargers finally scoring 30+, and many of us heaved a huge sigh of relief. Then, the Chiefs traveled to Denver and we now are “WR worrying warts again.”

Again, I will state that I was highly disappointed in the Chiefs offense against the Broncos and QB Patrick Mahomes as well.

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Who Is the Chiefs #1 WR?

We don’t have that man. At least no one has emerged so far in 2023. Different players have had ascendant games, but no one delivers week after week and that is the big concern.

Lisa Foxx wrote about this problem in an article at ArrowheadOne called: “KC’s Wide Receiver Woes.” Lisa wrote:

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“Another discouraging fact is that although the offense looked great against the Chargers and even the Bears… those teams rank in the bottom five for defenses in the NFL. The real test comes when the Chiefs face highly ranked defenses.”

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Anomalies?

It appears to me that the games against the Bears and the Chargers were more an anomaly than seeing the offense return to form. Drops and Fumbles by the WR Corps were again prevalent at Mile High. This week we have an early broadcast of the game vs. the Dolphins (8:30 AM CST). The Team is traveling to Europe today (now yesterday) according to Andy Reid’s plan. At least we have an NFL game on Thursday Night Football.

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My Question This Week

Which Offense will we see in Frankfort? Peter Schrager discusses the idea that the game could be a preview of the upcoming AFC Championship Game in January (1:51).

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I am not going to go that far… but it’s possible.

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David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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