Kansas City Chiefs: Young receivers making their mark early
By Ben Almquist
Kansas City Chiefs training camp has gotten underway. As we get our first glimpses of the 2017 team, an early story line is the play of some young wide receivers.
The wide receiver position has been a sore spot for the Kansas City Chiefs for the better part of…well, forever. So whenever we see someone show promise there, it becomes a big deal. We’re getting an early, and surprising, glimpse of that in this year’s training camp as several young wide receivers are starting to look pretty good.
With the exception of some brief stints, largely under Dick Vermeil, the Chiefs simply have not been a team that throws a lot to the outside. That’s why this is kind of a big deal for Kansas City fans. Especially when you consider how young and inexperienced this wide receiver corps is.
As it currently stands, Kansas City doesn’t have a single wide receiver on the roster with more than four years experience in the NFL. Albert Wilson, likely to be a depth player (if he makes the team) is the senior man in the group. That’s generally not a good situation to have going for you.
Situation Of Their Own Doing
Of course, the current wide receiver situation is a result of the Chiefs own doing. Prior to parting ways with the team, former GM John Dorsey made the surprising decision to release veteran Jeremy Maclin. That move met with a lot of criticism, and it’s not unreasonable to assume that’s why Dorsey is no longer here.
To compound things, the Chiefs didn’t add any veteran free agents at the position this offseason. That’s a bit out of the norm for KC since the Reid/Dorsey era began. In the past, guys like Donnie Avery, Jason Avant, Jeremy Maclin, and Rod Streater had all been brought in. Not all stuck around, or really contributed, but they were at least brought in.
That is showing a lot of faith and investment in a group of players that is very much unproven. The Chiefs will need their young receivers to step up in 2017. The good news, so far, is that we are seeing signs that this group is stepping up to that responsibility early on.