The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-1 and one of the best teams in all the NFL. Their defense has been the best of the Patrick Mahomes era through six games, but the offense has actually been a little below the very high bar of recent K.C. teams. In particular, the wide receiver production has been an issue.
Rookie wideout Rashee Rice has flashed upside and looks worthy of a bigger role as the season goes on, but pretty much every other KC wideout has underwhelmed or isn't seeing the field (ie Justyn Ross). There's already talk of KC potentially adding a wideout before the trade deadline, but if that doesn't happen there may still be a long-term solution on the horizon. That solution is an absolutely loaded 2024 wide receiver draft class.
The 2023 wideout class was fine, with a few of first-round options already looking solid and the Chiefs look like they might have found something in the 2nd round with Rice. The 2022 class was an even more talented group. First-rounders like Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Drake London (on the rare occasions that Atlanta throws the ball) have all looked like big-time NFL talents. However, the 2024 class looks like it could top them both and be one of the best wide receiver classes we've seen in a while.
I know it's not draft season yet, but as we get closer to the trade deadline you need to keep this draft class in mind when considering if K.C. should pay up big to trade for a wide receiver. Obviously, none of these prospects can help K.C. this season, but Brett Veach may not want to pay a big trade price or the large contract/cap space required for a top trade target when he could potentially land a cost-controlled difference-maker in the draft after the season.
Which Wide Receivers could the Chiefs target in the 2024 Draft?
If you're a big college football fan you may know a lot of these names already, but for those of you that mainly focus on the NFL, you may not be aware of just how good this class is shaping up to be. I've decided to highlight my top seven guys who could very easily be first-round picks. If all seven went in the first it would make over 20% of the first-round picks wideouts and that's even leaving out several guys that could be viewed as late first-rounders in most other years.
Don't believe me? Here's a list of guys that didn't make my top seven potential first round wide receivers.
- Troy Franklin - Oregon - 6'3" - 187 lbs
- Johnny Wilson - Florida State - 6'7" - 237 lbs
- Adonai Mitchell - Texas - 6'4" - 196 lbs
- Malachi Corley - Western Kentucky - 5'11" - 210 lbs
- Tory Horton - Colorado State - 6'2" - 190 lbs
- Jalen McMillan - Washington - 6'1" - 192 lbs
- Ja'Lynn Polk - Washington - 6'2" - 204 lbs
- Will Sheppard - Vanderbilt - 6'3" - 198 lbs
I REALLY like all eight of those players and the crazy part is there's going to be some wideouts that I didn't list in those eight or my top seven first-round guys that some of you are going to be mad that I didn't mention. There are easily 20 or so wideouts worthy of discussion for being a day one or day two pick in this draft class. So it has elite upside talent and great depth.
I think everyone knows who the first guy on this list is going to be and there's simply no way he makes it to the Chiefs. However, the other six guys that I have listed in my current preferred order (it will likely change several times between now and the draft) are much closer, so depending on how other teams view them any one of them could potentially fall into the Chiefs lap in the late first round.
So let's kick this list of outstanding wideout prospects off with the guy that's going to go in the top five picks.