Now that the K.C. Chiefs have (overly) attended to their concerns along the offensive line, the primary discussion around the state of the roster following the 2021 NFL Draft tends to look at wide receiver. Specifically, the Chiefs watched Sammy Watkins leave this offseason and chased a few potential replacements in free agency. However, the only official additions are either familiar faces brought back, role players fighting for a job, or unproven young players.
The Chiefs offense looked unstoppable when Watkins was not only present on the roster but healthy. During the team’s tremendous Super Bowl run, the Chiefs offense simply could not be contained even when opponents had all the leverage with a double digit lead in each postseason game. During that run, Watkins was averaging nearly 100 yards per contest, in addition to the tremendous talents of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Seeking a return to that level of play has been a subject for the last two offseasons.
Last year, the Chiefs added the top-tier running back to the mix of skill position players in an effort to provide some versatility and bolster the backfield. This offseason, the Chiefs underwent a major reconstruction along the offensive front. The newfound front line should allow Patrick Mahomes to have plenty to time to find his targets—more so than ever before in three seasons as the Chiefs starting quarterback.
If you’re worried about the No. 2 receiver, let me just say now that Mahomes with time is all the team will need to return to such historic levels of output.
Patrick Mahomes is going to elevate the Chiefs offense even more.
Here’s the rule of thumb: when you have a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes, he is going to make everyone around him appear that much better than they are and/or help those players reach their potential. That’s not to take anything away from the skill position players in place in Kansas City. Drew Brees had Michael Thomas. Aaron Rodgers has Davante Adams. Tom Brady had/has Rob Gronkowski. It’s just that other players are capable of stepping up in ways that will seem artificial later on.
Peyton Manning – Brandon Stokely – 2004
During this season in particular, both Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne eclipse the 1,000 yard mark, but somehow Stokely did, too. This was the season in which Manning had 49 passing touchdowns, and so even someone farther down the pecking order like Stokely, who was provided slot reps, gave the Colts 68 catches for 1,077 yards and 10 touchdowns that season. Stokely played from 1999 to 2013—an incredibly long career—and his second highest total ever in receiving yards was 635 with the Denver Broncos in 2007.
Troy Aikman – Alvin Harper – 1994
The Cowboys were always going to generate serious offensive numbers with Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman as the primary trio. Alvin Harper was able to enjoy several long catches during the ’94 season that earned him a league-leading 24.9 yards/catch. Shortly thereafter, he decided to cash the free agent checks of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and turned out to be an imposter as a go-to target.
Brett Favre – Bill Schroeder – 1999
If you ever watched Bill Schroeder catch passes in Green Bay then you’ll likely need a minute to recover from the memory that he also crossed the 1,000 yard mark in ’99 with Brett Favre as his quarterback. It look some time for the former sixth round pick to find his footing in the NFL, and he even need a European stint, but in ’99, he caught 74 passes for 1,051 yards and 5 touchdowns with Antonio Freeman and Donald Driver also on the roster. He posted 9 more TDs in each of the next two seasons, but went on to sign with the Detroit Lions and completely flopped away from Favre.
Tom Brady – Brandon LaFell – 2014
We’ve seen this work with other offenses throughout more recent years. The New England Patriots seemed to have a rotating cast of pass catchers for Tom Brady, and the system seemed to work just fine with the GOAT making the throws. In 2014, LaFell joined the Pats after a lackluster four seasons with the Carolina Panthers to play out his rookie deal. During his first year with Brady, he puts up 74 catches for 953 yards and 7 scores—the sort of numbers any Chiefs fan would love to see from a wideout opposite Hill. Of course, he’d leave to earn more chances but would never again put up those stats.
There are myriad other examples of great quarterbacks who were able to elevate the game of secondary pass catchers to a solid stat line throughout NFL history, and Mahomes is going to be no different here. The Chiefs have Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle and more back to compete for Watkins old reps along with other potential players like rookie Cornell Powell, Joe Fortson, or Antonio Callaway. While none of those sound like game-changing talents on the surface, the truth is that the Chiefs already have the one who will change your perception of someone this year. They just need the room to put up those numbers.