The Sammy Watkins acquisition has worked as planned for the Kansas City Chiefs

Brett Veach said the sky was the limit when he added Sammy Watkins to this offense. The Chiefs general manager was absolutely right.

“I think the sky is the limit with this.”

Those were the words spoken by Brett Veach when explaining his signing of wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the media only seven months ago. The Kansas City Chiefs general manager paid a high price for the free agent target and took his fair share of criticism due to the size of the deal (three years, $48 million). Still, he excitedly held his ground because he had a vision—one in which the Chiefs offense would be unstoppable.

Through half of a season, Veach’s vision has held true.

On Sunday, Patrick Mahomes relied on Watkins as a primary wrinkle of the Chiefs offense to the tune of the wide receiver’s single best day in a Chiefs uniform: eight catches on nine targets, 107 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns. It was proof positive that Watkins’ presence can put up the stats if and when required, just as other games have served as proof that the mere potential of Watkins as an option is dangerous enough.

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Through eight games, the Chiefs offense is looking like the National Football League’s next great offensive unit—one that will require some sort of long-standing nickname (a la The Greatest Show on Turf). Mahomes is widely considered the league’s top MVP candidate through a half season, putting up an NFL high 26 passing touchdowns against only 6 interceptions. In terms of franchise history, Mahomes is only 4 touchdown passes away from tying Len Dawson‘s team record at 30.

The Chiefs are sitting at 7-1 despite overcoming several serious hurdles along the way, a list that includes:

The NFL’s lowest-ranked defense in terms of yards allowed
Serious injuries to the team’s two best overall defenders: Eric Berry and Justin Houston
Serious injuries along the offensive interior: Mitch Morse, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Jordan Devey
Playing the toughest part of the schedule early (road games at Pittsburgh, Denver, New England, L.A. Chargers)

The ability of the Chiefs to weather such a tough schedule and overcome such injuries is completely on the shoulders of the league’s best offense. Defenses, even the best in the business, cannot account for the team’s offensive potential. In fact, the Chiefs would be undefeated had they not looked overly excited and mistake-prone against the Pats on the road. Even in that game, Mahomes and company put up 40 and the Pats needed a last-second field goal.

The presence of Watkins has much to do with this offensive firepower. The Chiefs already had most of the pieces in place, and they were certainly formidable pieces to be sure. The Chiefs already boasted the league’s best deep threat in Tyreek Hill, and a perennial Pro Bowl tight end in Travis Kelce. Kareem Hunt led the league in rushing as a rookie, and the Chiefs had other promising pass catchers in-house. But last year’s playoff loss showed the need for one more sure thing—that is, if the vision was about absolute domination.

The meltdown against the Tennessee Titans in 2017 began when Travis Kelce was taken out of the game due to a concussion. The offense with Alex Smith suddenly became predictable and one-note. The Titans stacked the box and shut down Hill at the same time, and Smith’s arm couldn’t move the chains. Without Kelce (and Chris Conley due to a season-ending injury), the Chiefs lost all offensive momentum and, once again, went one-and-out in the postseason.

The word on Veach is that he’d been hot for Watkins for well over a year and even tried to trade for him in 2017. Instead he had to wait until Watkins hit free agency to land the prize, but despite the wait, Veach’s excitement certainly hadn’t waned.

"If you watch the tape, the guy is open all the time. Literally, open on the time,” Veach said. “You are talking about 6-0 and change, 4.38 (40-yard dash), tremendous hands, ball skills, really a refined player. There really isn’t anything you can’t do."

The Chiefs bought themselves time to improve. dark. Next

Adding Watkins presence to Hill, Hunt and Kelce (and Conley, Demetrius Harris, Spencer Ware and Demarcus Robinson) has reshaped this offense around the brightest young arm in the game. Mahomes looks like an MVP because the Chiefs gave him the tools to be as exceptional as he can be. The coaching has been insanely creative. The playcalling has rolled the dice on a number of occasions. The Chiefs are playing as confidently as ever under Andy Reid because they truly believe they can win any game against anyone.

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