There's no denying that the wide receiver room of the Kansas City Chiefs is going to look quite a bit different in 2025. Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice are around to anchor the offense, but the Chiefs have five free agents-to-be at WR when the new league year begins, and even if that were not the case, the unit looked slow and older last season. It's time for some reinvention either way.
When free agency begins, the Chiefs might be waving goodbye to a number of players, including DeAndre Hopkins, Mecole Hardman, Justin Watson, Marquise Brown, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. That leaves a lot of room (and need) for some new faces, even if general manager Brett Veach decides to bring back one or two wideouts from last year.
Enter Darius Slayton. Last fall, before the NFL's trade deadline, the Chiefs were linked to a few veteran wide receivers on the trade block before dealing with the Tennessee Titans for Hopkins. Slayton was one such name, with ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler saying K.C. could be interested. Nothing firm was reported, so it was all conjecture, but it was a solid guess based on Slayton's skill set, availability and the Chiefs' needs at the time.
Darius Slayton is expecting to have several teams in the chase to sign him in free agency.
Slayton is now ready to hit free agency himself and believes he's going to have multiple teams in the hunt to sign him. He spoke confidently on an episode of the podcast Talkin' Ball with Pat Leonard, saying, "We know we have a lot of interest out there. And when free agency opens up, we'll have a lot of different conversations to have with a lot of different people."
Slayton had 39 catches for 573 yards and 2 touchdowns last season for the Giants offense—as miserable as it was. What helps Slayton's game as a deep threat is his penchant for being an above-average pass blocker. it's also not hard to imagine he could do far more damage with Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback than, say, the likes of Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor, and Mike Glennon.
As for the Chiefs, they're likely going to try to convince Hollywood Brown to return, but the injury concerns there could be a factor. Slayton, meanwhile, has averaged 15 games played per season and just turned 28 years old.
The Chiefs can go a number of different directions here, but Slayton at least will be in the conversation of potential signings given what he could bring to the offense in 2025.
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