KC Chiefs will still be explosive even without Tyreek Hill

When the Kansas City Chiefs entered this past offseason, the initial expectation was that they would at least work to find an upgrade at WR2. Well, nobody could have predicted the total revamping of the wide receiver group that included trading star receiver Tyreek Hill.

The Chiefs let go a lot of familiar faces and brought in newcomers like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and rookie Skyy Moore. Given that none of those guys bring what Tyreek Hill brought to the table, many looking in from the outside expected the Chiefs offense to not only take a step back, but to lose some of their big play ability.

Contrary to the belief that the Chiefs will see their ability to put together big plays decline a bit, there’s actually plenty of reason to believe the Chiefs won’t skip a beat in 2022 and might even be more dangerous than they were in previous years with Hill.

Contrary to the belief that the Chiefs will see their explosive play ability decline, there’s plenty of reason to think they won’t skip a beat in 2022.

For reference, Hill had 13 receptions for 20 yards or more in 2021 with the K.C. Chiefs and had a long of 75 yards on the season. Obviously, he was responsible for a lot of the team’s offensive production throughout his tenure.

Even so, Kansas City’s offseason acquisitions should prove to make up for and potentially exceed what Tyreek Hill brought them alone.

We know JuJu Smith-Schuster’s production started to decline in Pittsburgh as did Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to push the ball downfield, but fans should be happy to know that he is one of only four players in NFL history to record multiple 95+ yard TD receptions. People are quickly forgetting the explosive downfield threat Smith-Schuster can be especially with the best quarterback he will have played with in Patrick Mahomes.

The team’s other notable free agent wide receiver, Marquez Valdes-Scantling also brings a speed element and vertical threat that the team lost when they traded away Hill. Valdes-Scantling may not be as prolific or Dynamic as Hill but he does have the most 70+ yard touchdowns since 2019 which is something defenses will have to consider.

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Smith-Schuster and Valdes-Scantling alone bring plenty of explosive potential to the Chiefs offense, but that’s not even considering Mecole Hardman or Skyy Moore. Though Hardman hasn’t quite had the progression many fans would have hoped for to this point, he can still score at any moment and he is just as dangerous as any other receiver in the league once the ball is in his hands. Hardman also added 8 plays of 20 yards or more in 2021 and 4 plays of 40 yards or more.

We don’t quite know what Skyy Moore will be able to do in year one but he certainly flashed his impressive release in preseason which should allow him to get open quickly and gain yards after the catch.

Although Tyreek Hill was fantastic for many years for Kansas City, putting the amount of money in him that Miami ended up doing likely wouldn’t have allowed the Chiefs to add the sheer depth to their wide receiver corps that they did, as the team is only paying approximately $16 million for the aforementioned group.

That depth is also another reason we shouldn’t expect the Chiefs offense to slow down in 2022. Better depth means more players for defenses to worry about and the Chiefs definitely couldn’t say that for their secondary pass-catchers behind Tyreek Hill the past couple years. The talent across the board at receiver will open things up for everyone to get their share of production and Patrick Mahomes will have plenty of great options to target all season long.

People seem to be overlooking the Chiefs offense because they don’t have the trio of Mahomes-Kelce-Hill anymore. However, many aren’t realizing that the stable of playmakers the Chiefs have bring a track record of big time plays that will have to be in the back of defensive coordinator’s heads everywhere.