Oakland Raiders: Ranking The AFC West By Position Group – Wide Receivers
By Kevin Saito
Kansas City Chiefs
With Alex Smith as their number one signal caller, the Chiefs didn’t have a dynamic receiving corps to begin with. Although, they did have a couple of field-stretching, home run hitters who could take over a game if needed in Jeremy Maclin and Tyreek Hill.
But for reasons that don’t seem to make a lot of sense to anybody, the Chiefs dumped Maclin this offseason, leaving Hill as the only legitimate long-ball threat on their roster. He’s sure to see an increased role in the offense, which isn’t a bad thing for Kansas City.
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But in getting rid of Maclin, they’re almost forcing Smith to play with one hand tied behind his back. It’s a situation that doesn’t bode well for an offense that not all that long ago went an entire season without a touchdown pass to a wide receiver – a stat was just about unheard of in today’s pass-happy NFL.
Hill can only do so much, and unless somebody else on Kansas City’s roster steps up in a big way, opposing defenses are going to be able to sit on him and really cripple an offense that is already gimping along anyway.
Hill, Chris Conley, De’Anthony Thomas, and Albert Wilson aren’t a wide receivers group that’s going to strike fear into anybody. And given the fact that they were the nineteenth best passing attack last season – twenty-fourth in touchdown catches – it’s not like they were incredibly dynamic to begin with.
And now, take Maclin out of that equation and Kansas City’s passing offense could very well be in big trouble.
A lack of quality depth and an offense that doesn’t naturally have a dynamic passing game to begin with –now, further crippled with the release of Maclin – gives Kansas City the worst receiving group in the AFC West.