As we all know, the Kansas City Chiefs went the entire 2014 season without seeing one wide receiver catch a touchdown pass. That seems mind-boggling in this day and age of the NFL. The receiver corps, led by Dwayne Bowe, was certainly underwhelming but thanks to a combination of poor play and play-calling, the Chiefs find themselves in need of revamping their receiver corps.
The Chiefs have already started the facelift of the receiver corps with Donnie Avery being released and A.J. Jenkins being waived. However, there is still plenty of work to do and Bowe could be joining his ex-teammates in looking for work.
This is the perfect year to attempt an overhaul of the position. With names like Demaryius Thomas, Randall Cobb, Dez Bryant, Michael Crabtree, Vincent Brown, Jeremy Maclin, Cecil Shorts and Torrey Smith to name a few, the position is looking like it will be stocked this offseason. Granted, a player like Dez Bryant could very well be taken off the market with the franchise tag but there will still be plenty of talent to choose from.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Chiefs make a run at Maclin given his familiarity with Andy Reid. Anyone who pays attention to Twitter saw the Chiefs’ Twitter account go after Maclin and it is perfectly understandable. He is coming off of an 85-catch, 1,318-yard, 10 touchdown season. Maclin would give the Chiefs an instant boost on offense but they need more. The Chiefs would pull off a virtual coup by grabbing someone like Randall Cobb, whose ability to play the slot would be a massive upgrade in the offense and give Alex Smith the perfect target on short and intermediate routes while opening up the field a little for Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis as well as tight end Travis Kelce.
Right now, the best receiver in Kansas City is Kelce, who led the team in catches (67), yards (862) and tied for the lead in touchdowns (5). He emerged as one of the NFL’s best tight ends last year and he could put up even better numbers in this offense if he had some receivers taking pressure off of the middle of the field and stretching defenses a little, something that was a rare sight in Arrowhead Stadium last season.
As for Charles, if he showed anything last year it was that he is still a great running back. He also showed he can’t do it all by himself on offense and at age 28 the window might be closing quickly on him as a top tier running back. The time to take advantage, and take advantage of all that Davis has to offer, is now and the best way to do that is to bring in a receiver or two through free agency and one or two through the draft to give Alex Smith something to work with. The alternative is missing the playoffs yet again and watching the prime years of Charles go to waste.
Adding Maclin and Cobb to a team with Kelce, Charles and Davis as well as adding a receiver in the draft could totally change the Chiefs’ playoff fortunes next season. With the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning nearing the end of their reign the time to strike is now. There is no reason to think the Chiefs can’t win their division next season. It all starts at receiver.