Richie James gives reasons for lower production for Chiefs in 2023

Richie James braved the waters of social media to provide perspective on last season.

Social media is never going to bring forth a nuanced argument or reasonable debate of any kind, but we appreciate the efforts that wide receiver Richie James is trying to make on Monday.

James, who is currently a free agent, played for the Kansas City Chiefs last year on a one-year deal signed after a breakout season with the New York Giants in 2022. Chiefs general manager Brett Veach admitted that James had been on his radar in years past and the chance to bring him in to compete at receiver and returner was a move that made sense.

Coming out of New York, James had just set career highs with Daniel Jones at quarterback in the face of numerous injuries at the position for the Giants. James rose to the occasion with 57 catches for 569 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns—all career marks.

One year later, James is now a free agent waiting on someone to make him an offer he can't refuse. Other teams might have questions considering he set career lows across the board with the Chiefs with a scant 114 receiving yards and zero touchdowns for the first time in his career. That said, James was also injured for much of the year and played in only 9 games.

In the midst of an online argument about the value of Giants' quarterback Daniel Jones on Speak featuring Emmanuel Acho, some Twitter users got into it and brought up James's name. From there, the wideout decided to step into the argument to set the record straight on a couple of things.

Notice what he had to say about playing with the Chiefs offense. First, he says he loved playing with Patrick Mahomes as quarterback. He also says that when Travis Kelce and higher level investments are also on the field, there's a concerted effort to try to give them the ball. It's safe to say that list would include Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, Rashee Rice, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling—all of whom were either in that same draft pick range or had millions more invested.

We're not sure how many times last year that James was open and Mahomes thought, "I'd throw it your way but I need to give Skyy Moore some stats." That said, there's probably some truth to what he's saying about at least getting reps on the field. The Chiefs did need to see what they had in younger players—for better or worse.

As for James, he's currently unemployed, but we wouldn't be surprised if one or more teams came with an overture to join them by the time camp rolls around. The value is there on offense and special teams and now he can boast some Super Bowl experience as well. Surely some roster can benefit from his presence and production.