Skyy Moore deserves more playing time in KC Chiefs offense

After being selected in the 2nd round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Skyy Moore was expected to have a significant role in the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense early in the season. Unfortunately, that has yet to come to fruition.

Through four regular season games, Moore has only seen 5 targets, which have led to 3 catches for 61 yards. That doesn’t sound very impressive until you pair it with the fact that Moore has only been on the field for 22 passing plays this season and has netted 2.77 receiving yards per route run, according to Pro Football Focus ($). For reference, 2.77 yards/route run is good enough for 8th among all NFL wide receivers this season with at least five targets. Travis Kelce is at 2.27, JuJu Smith-Schuster at 1.79, Marquez Valdes-Scantling at 1.27, and Mecole Hardman at 0.78.

According to PFF ($), the “Yards per Route Run” statistic takes into account the number of snaps a player went into a pattern. This provides a better indicator of production than Yards per Reception or even Yards per Target. I understand that PFF is not very popular among Chiefs Kingdom, but the statistics referenced earlier in the article are objective facts and not anyone’s opinion.

After only recording three catches over the first four games, wide receiver Skyy Moore has earned additional playing time in KC Chiefs’ offense.

Moore’s impressive yards/route run number isn’t the sole reason he needs to see additional playing time, but it does show us what we already thought we knew, and that is he’s a better route runner than almost anyone on the team not named Travis Kelce and he’s incredibly efficient.

Reid doesn’t like to give rookies a huge role on offense, except for players on the offensive line, but that needs to change with Moore. The Chiefs’ current wide receivers are struggling to create separation for Mahomes and that has the potential to cause serious problems when the playoffs start in January.

Moore is not a burner, like Tyreek Hill and Hardman, or a big body, such as Kelce, but he is a nuanced route runner who can create separation and is also very creative in space when he has the ball. With Mahomes’ special arm talent and playmaking ability and Reid’s creativity on offense, there’s little reason to believe that a player with Skyy Moore’s skillset wouldn’t be a huge asset for this offense.

In addition to having a valuable skillset for the offense, Moore should see more playing time because the current group is not quite getting it done. Smith-Schuster is quietly having a very solid season, despite scoring no touchdowns so far, so he’s not a concern. Valdes-Scantling is who he’s always been and that’s a solid tertiary at the wide receiver position. Hardman is having a down year in terms of production and is not even close to as good of a route runner as Moore. Justin Watson is a solid depth piece and that’s pretty much it.

Other than Smith-Schuster, I can’t say that Moore is less deserving of targets than any wide receiver previously listed, and every single one has seen more snaps than him. If the Chiefs had a loaded wide receiver room with guaranteed #1 and #2 wide receivers, the itch to play Moore wouldn’t reach this level. However, they do not have an elite wide receiver unit. They need to find the best combination possible so they’re ready to go toe to toe with a team as good as the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs.

Though the offense for the Chiefs bounced back Sunday night in Tampa Bay, Andy Reid needs to not only give Skyy Moore additional snaps on offense but also scheme up plays for him. He may not know the playbook as well as Mecole Hardman, but his overall talent level more than overrides any potential lack of playbook knowledge. A player of his skill set can take the Chiefs’ offense to the next level and make it even more difficult to defend with Travis Kelce still doing his thing and Patrick Mahomes still throwing the ball better than anyone else in the sport of American football.