Oakland Raiders: Stacking up the wide receivers in the AFC West
By Kevin Saito
Kansas City Chiefs
Key Contributors: Tyreek Hill, Chris Conley, Sammy Watkins
Yes, we know. Kansas City’s offense runs through Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Those two account for the lion’s share of the Chiefs receiving statistics. And they’ll figure to do so again this year – though, with a first-year starter in Patrick Mahomes under center, it would be a shock to see the Chiefs put the ball in the air as often as they did when Alex Smith was running the offense.
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It seems more likely, that to ease the burden and pressure on Mahomes, Andy Reid is going to lean a little heavier on the three-headed beast in the backfield made up of Kareem Hunt, Charcandrick West, and Spencer Ware. Smartly so.
But, they’re still going to have to be able to throw the ball. Which brings us back to Hill and Kelce. The Chiefs do still have Chris Conley, of course. But, he was a non-factor last season with just 175 receiving yards on 11 catches, and no touchdowns.
They also went out and dropped a massive contract on Sammy Watkins, who showed tremendous promise his first two seasons in the league, when he racked up 982 receiving yards and six touchdowns as a rookie, and followed that up with 1,047 yards and nine touchdowns the next year.
After that though, Watkins notched just 430 receiving yards in 2016, and 593 last season – though, he did haul in eight touchdowns.
Watkins is a good receiver, but has hardly lived up to the billing of a fourth-overall draft pick. Still, he will add another dangerous component for Mahomes and the Chiefs to work with.
In Hill and Watkins, the Chiefs have speed to burn. And when you add Kelce into the mix, Kansas City has three solid options in the passing game. But, beyond those three, they don’t have much else in the way of receiving depth or options.