Kansas City Chiefs have one of the worst wide receiver units

Nov 20, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers strong safety Chris Conte (23) intercepts a pass intended for Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley (17) during the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. Tampa Bay won 19-17. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /

The shock of the Kansas City Chiefs releasing Jeremy Maclin is slowly starting to wear off, but the Chiefs still have a bottom five wide receiver unit. That does not bode well for an offense who had trouble scoring last year.

When looking at the 2017 Kansas City Chiefs roster, the one thing that holds me back from saying this team is a Super Bowl contender is their wide receiver depth. If I’m being completely honest, the Chiefs’ wide receivers suck.

A lot of people will counter with Tyreek Hill being the answer this season, but I’m not convinced that he’s going to build on his 2016 production. It’d be nearly impossible for Hill to have a better year than he did as a rookie and teams will know to defend him now. No one is kicking to Tyreek Hill or leaving him unguarded.

With Hill likely being well-defended, that leaves Travis Kelce (who is a tight end) and who else? Exactly my point. The Kansas City Chiefs are going to trot out Chris Conley and Albert Wilson as their other receivers and neither of those guys instill fear into the opposition.

More from Kansas City Chiefs

Doug Farrar of Bleacher Report ranked all 32 wide receiver corps at the end of May. Jeremy Maclin was still with the Chiefs then, so they landed at 16 on that list, good for the top half of the league. Without Maclin, however, they’d plummet far down on the list. That list also included tight ends, so obviously Kelce was a huge bump.

Looking at the bottom five units on this list – the 49ers, Ravens, Rams, Bears, and Jets in that order – the Chiefs definitely fit in with this group. The Ravens, now with Maclin on their squad, would jump up a few spots.

I honestly think the only team with a worse group of receivers than Kansas City is the Jets. New York is going to be awful this year (yes, the Chiefs play them, which is good news) and their receivers are going to play a hand in that. This list was written before Eric Decker signed with Tennessee too, so the Jets have gotten even WORSE since this article on Bleacher Report was published.

While Chiefs fans will say that Tyreek Hill boosts the Chiefs wide receivers up a few more pegs, I beg to differ. Hill is going to have a sophomore slump season and the rest of the wide receivers in Kansas City are not guys worth relying on.

Obviously I hope that I’m wrong and the Chiefs end up having a tremendous group of wide receivers, but I just don’t see it happening. This could be a rough year offensively for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs