Kansas City is 4-0 and looking to get back into the playoffs and back to the Super Bowl. Their offense is humming at 0.14 EPA/play, ranking third overall in the NFL entering Week 6. But that doesn't mean there aren't opportunities to improve at the margins.
They just recently had to put deep threat Tyquan Thornton on injured reserve. And with just under a month before the NFL trade deadline on November 10th, they are in a position to consider being buyers while many other teams are still figuring out where they stand.
Kansas City's passing game from 2022-2023
During their back-to-back Super Bowl runs, Kansas City targeted the intermediate area of the field 18% of the time. That area of the field is where their offense does the majority of their damage, averaging 0.59 EPA/target when looking to that area of the field.
This year, Patrick Mahomes has been looking to the intermediate area of the field (11-20 yards) less than in previous years, targeting it just 12% of the time. Furthermore, his favorite receiver to find in that area, Rashee Rice, is on the injury report and not practicing.
Hamstrings are notoriously fickle injuries and it would make sense to find someone who can fill that role both in the short term while Rice is healing as well as the long-term picture as a hedge in case Rice misses more time in the future.
Enter Darnell Mooney
Darnell Mooney isn't at the top of any trade target list. But he fills a specific role the Chiefs can use right now. And he can slot into their depth chart when Rice returns in a way that makes sense.
Since 2024, nearly 40% of Mooney's targets have come exactly where Kansas City could use help. Per SumerSports, here is Mooney's production by area of the field he was targeted.
Area of the Field | Targets | Receptions | Catch Rate | Yds | Yds/tgt | EPA | EPA/tgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Short | 81 | 51 | 63.0% | 383 | 4.73 | -5.6 | -0.069 |
Intermediate | 76 | 39 | 51.3% | 738 | 9.71 | +30.9 | +0.41 |
Deep | 38 | 14 | 36.8% | 423 | 11.13 | +17.8 | +0.47 |
Mooney wins in exactly the areas Kansas City could use right now, filling in for Rice in the intermediate area of the field and pairing with Xavier Worthy to give Mahomes a second deep threat.
Darnell Mooney's trade value
Mooney is a long way from his career-high 2024 season when he caught 64 passes for 992 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is averaging just 3.4 targets, 1.6 catches, and 21.8 yards per game, playing third fiddle to Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely.
His current market value matches his salary of $3 million. Mooney is under contract for just the rest of this year, so he is the definition of a cheap rental. The trade cost would be a 2027 or 2028 seventh-rounder.
It's not sexy. It's not high-profile. But it is a low-cost move that meets a specific need for an offense that is already working well. Those are the margin moves that help a team get over the top.
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