Why Kelvin Benjamin should be a great addition (but he’s not)

The Buffalo Bills just released Kelvin Benjamin, a former first-round pick at wide receiver, which should make him a compelling addition. Too bad he’s his own worst enemy.

On Tuesday afternoon, a familiar name came across the waiver wire in Kelvin Benjamin. The resulting emotion(s) encapsulate just how frustrating the mercurial wide receiver has been in his career.

It’s typical for any fan to pause long enough to consider whether or not that player is worth pursuing. After all, it’s a free player, so to speak, who was previously unavailable (at least for free). Since every team has the chance to claim such a player on waivers, it’s up to every team to consider the same and answer whether or not the player is worth grabbing.

When it comes to a larger name player like Benjamin, the idea of adding a promising player can be quite exciting. After the trade deadline, it’s hard for any team to add a difference maker, but a late-season waiver addition can sometimes provide a nice boost to the roster. Of course, most players are cut because they are no longer effective, which means the majority of such waiver claims are nothing to get excited about. Yet a few players released each year end up as productive citizens with their new teams.

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Kelvin Benjamin is the kind of player who should be the latter but has ended up as the former. Benjamin is most famous for being a first-round investment on the part of the Carolina Panthers who grabbed him as the big target for Cam Newton in the hopes the duo could grow into a potent connection for years to come. Instead, Benjamin was an ill fit from the beginning—a role he’s never stopped playing no matter what roster he’s on.

Many players flounder in the NFL because of negative circumstances beyond the player’s control. Consider how many head coach or coordinators are stubborn in their approach, refusing to alter their own approach to favor the talent already on the roster. Benjamin suffered from the Panthers in this regard. Benjamin is a large, physical receiver who has a tremendous catch radius and is best when having to go-up-and-get-it, so to speak. He’s a nightmare end zone match-up, but he needs an accurate and confident passer who can make good on his potential.

In this sense, Benjamin is a perfect fit for a team like the Chiefs—or at least when they have a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes. Fans have seen Mahomes put the ball in exactly the right spot in numerous situations this year. In fact, he’s so good at it that his own vision is much clearer than those of us watching because some of his throws don’t even look like they should make it into the receiver’s hands in the first place.

In a perfect world, Benjamin would be a perfect experiment for the Chiefs at this point. The team just lost Kareem Hunt as an option out of the backfield, so bolstering the receiving corps further would at least keep the offense dynamic, especially if Sammy Watkins remains out with a foot injury. Imagine an arm like Mahomes putting a pass where only the 6’5 Benjamin could grab it. Remember, Benjamin is built like a linebacker at nearly 250 lbs. yet has the hands and leaping ability to create mismatches against any defensive back in the business.

But all of this is a pipe dream for the Chiefs (or any team considering Benjamin). The reality is that Benjamin has never been a team player from the moment he arrived in the NFL. He’s an entitled, selfish player who only causes dissension off the field and doesn’t make up for it with production on the field. The Panthers traded him to the Buffalo Bills to hopefully gain something back from their investment, and the Bills have had buyer’s remorse from almost the very beginning.

On Tuesday the Bills finally admitted defeat and decided that addition by subtraction was the name of the game concerning Benjamin’s place on the roster. A young team simply doesn’t need the sort of non-producing, cancerous player that Benjamin has become in the locker room. Now Benjamin will be looking to make his third team since 2014 and, at this point, there isn’t a single reason to believe that he can or will suddenly turn a corner.

That’s all a shame because, for a coach like Andy Reid armed with a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes, Kelvin Benjamin could have blossomed into the sort of big-play threat that the Panthers envisioned when they selected him at No. 28 overall. If only the wideout would have at least been a team player in control of his own actions and attitude, his dream of an ideal place to play might have eventually come true.