Kansas City Chiefs: Five players who must step up

Albert Wilson made an impressive showing at the end of 2014, but he’s going to have to get better if the Chiefs want to move forward. Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Albert Wilson — While the Chiefs went all out to upgrade the “Z” wide receiver by signing Jeremy Maclin, there has been virtually no movement at all with the counterpart position. That shows a ton of faith in Albert Wilson’s ability to develop as a wide receiver.

Jason Avant is not a number two receiving target, and nobody else on the roster has shown anything to suggest they will take that other outside spot. Wilson came on late in the season in 2014, but showed an ability to get open and catch the ball, which seemingly earned the trust of Alex Smith. That is automatically a step in the right direction from Donnie Avery and AJ Jenkins.

However, Wilson is no longer a secret, and teams will now be looking at ways to defend against him. This means he needs to put in even more work in the offseason to take the next step. Wilson has already stated his intent to mold his game after that of Steve Smith. However, he still has a long way to go before he reaches that goal.

Jeremy Maclin might be an upgrade, but the Chiefs still need a reliable second option on the outside if they want to make defenses respect their ability to strike all over the field. The zero touchdowns statistic still looms large, but simply getting one isn’t going to be enough.  The Chiefs need an offense that can attack on the outside as well as up the middle.

Next: And back to the offensive line...