Year after opting for stability, Kansas City Chiefs’ receiver depth chart may change
When it comes to targets, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes played his favorites. But you know that already.
Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill produced the best receiving duo in franchise history, combining for 2,692 yards and 26 touchdowns.
But their support? Well, that took a step backward in 2020, leaving Mahomes to look to Kelce and Hill for a higher percentage of his throws than a year earlier.
Might that change in 2021? Well, it’s complicated.
The Star continues its positional evaluations — a look back and a look ahead — with the wide receivers. Previous evaluations examined the Chiefs’ quarterbacks, offensive line, tight ends, cornerbacks, defensive line and linebackers.
2020 FINAL ROSTER: Mecole Hardman, Tyreek Hill, Byron Pringle, Demarcus Robinson, Sammy Watkins
2021 FREE AGENTS: Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson
POSITION REVIEW
We’ll start at the top.
On a Sunday in December, Tyreek Hill had seven catches, 203 yards and two touchdowns .... in the first quarter in Tampa Bay. It would not go near as smoothly in the trip to Tampa two months later — with safety Antoine Winfield returning the peace-sign gesture in Hill’s face as the Bucs closed out the Super Bowl win.
But that’s about the only lowlight in a season filled with highlights for the Chiefs’ No. 1 option. Hill finished second in the NFL with his career-high 15 receiving touchdowns, and he also scored on a pair of rushes. Having completed the season at age 26 — he turned 27 on March 1 — Hill has already totaled 58 touchdowns in five seasons.
But as for the remainder of the wide receiver room? A bit underwhelming.
Sammy Watkins played only 10 games and averaged just 42.1 yards in those 10. In his previous two seasons with the Chiefs, he had come alive in the postseason, but this year he missed two playoff games and played limited snaps in the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs had hoped for a big step forward for Mecole Hardman in his second season, but it was more of a straight line. He caught passes for 560 yards (22 more than 2019) and four touchdowns (two fewer than 2019).
Demarcus Robinson actually finished second among Chiefs wide receivers with 45 catches, finding the end zone on three of them. Byron Pringle turned more playing time into 13 catches for 160 yards and a touchdown.
LOOKING AHEAD
As the Chiefs enter their offseason, they will be guided by a few different blueprints, with the front office preparing to adjust each path.
The wide receiver position is one that could unfold a number of different ways. Hill, Hardman and Pringle are the three with spots on the roster. The rest is the unknown.
“We feel really good about those three players, and I think in free agency we’ll be smart, and if something makes sense for us, we’ll do what we do every year and listen,” general manager Brett Veach said this week.
It won’t, however, be the first priority.
“I can’t see us running out of the gates the first week to sign a receiver,” he added. “I don’t think that’s where we’re at. But if the market falls, and things make sense for us, I think we’ll be smart and selective.”
It’s a deep free agency class, and also a fairly deep draft class. So the Chiefs will have their opportunity to turnover that portion of their roster, if they choose.
Speaking of which...
ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK?
The Chiefs might not feel an urgency to add to their wide receiver depth chart — or at least that’s the public stance they’re taking — but they’re likely to subtract.
They were able to restructure Watkins’ contract last offseason to retain him for 2020, but keeping him yet another year will prove more difficult. That makes a separation more likely than an extension. Watkins signed a three-year deal with the Chiefs ahead of the 2018 season, but he appeared in only 34 of 48 regular season games.