The rub on the release of Jeremy Maclin

Maclin showed signs of hitting the proverbial wall last year

Some have surmised that the Chiefs decision to cut Jeremy Maclin was warranted on the strength of his regression in 2016. His detractors have also suggested that he was never a true No. 1 receiver neither here nor in his draft city of Philadelphia. They go on to argue that such being the reality, he wasn’t worth the $12.4 million dollars that would’ve counted against Kansas City’s cap in the forthcoming season. That’s actually a fair point. Even a more productive 2016 campaign would’ve made that a prohibitive cap number in the third year of his deal. Though if we’re being honest, that’s more of an indictment of the general manager John Dorsey, and the structure of the deal, than it is of Jeremy Maclin.

How quickly we forget that it was Maclin who ended Kansas City’s miserable stretch of 21 games without a touchdown reception by a wide receiver.

In his first season with Kansas City, he broke the franchise record for catches in a single season (with 87 on the year, a career best). In that same season, he went over 1,000 receiving yards for the second-consecutive year (1,088) and was credited with only a single dropped pass. How quickly we forget that it was Maclin who ended Kansas City’s miserable stretch of 21 games without a touchdown reception by a wide receiver.  In 2015, he was one of the driving forces behind the Chiefs’ 9th-ranked scoring offense in the NFL.

The sky isn’t falling. Jeremy Maclin isn’t an elite receiver by league standards, but he was by far and away this team’s most decorated wideout. There are a number of reasons to think this could backfire on Kansas City. After all, the man at the helm of the team’s offense may require a strong supporting cast more than any other leading man in the National Football League. He’s not the kind of quarterback that can overcome a dearth of pass-catching talent.