Should you panic over Jeremy Maclin’s release from the Kansas City Chiefs?

While I am not one of the many Chiefs fans that are freaking out about K.C. cutting Jeremy Maclin, I will admit there is a definite risk in doing so. Here is the scenario that could play out that would be an absolute disaster for the Chiefs. Please note that none of these things would be shocking developments.

1. Jeremy Maclin is highly productive for whatever team he signs with.

2. None of Kansas City’s young wide receivers step up and fill the void left by Maclin.

3. Either Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce (or worse, both) miss significant time with an injury.

If those three things happen (or even two of the three) the Chiefs will look like absolute fools for cutting Maclin. I don’t think there is a single Chiefs fan out there that can argue otherwise. Not only will the Chiefs look like idiots for cutting Maclin, their playoff hopes will likely be DOA.

Depressed yet?

Ok, in order to be fair and reasonable, I had to get that admission of risk out of the way. That having been said, I’m still not panicking. I’m by no means happy that they released Maclin. I saw Maclin as a security blanket, not one of the key pieces of the Chiefs roster. I would rather have the security blanket than not have it, but I understand why they did it and I certainly don’t think it means their playoff chances for 2017 are going out the door along with him.

So let’s talk about why this move makes sense.