Four wide receivers Kansas City Chiefs must contain in 2019
By Chris Clark
The Kansas City Chiefs will have to be prepared for the talent on opposing teams and what they’ll throw at them. From first-round draft picks to all-pro veterans, the Chiefs must contain some talented receivers in the upcoming season.
While opposing teams will have to prepare for the aerial assault from Patrick Mahomes and his receivers, the Kansas City Chiefs must also be ready to contain some receivers from around the league.
With a young and unproven secondary, things could get very interesting for Kansas City and the receiving threats that they’ll face. Let’s take a look at who the Chiefs need to have on their radar as they move into the 2019 season.
Weeks 2 & 13 – Antonio Brown
When news broke that the Pittsburgh Steelers had traded wide receiver Antonio Brown to the Oakland Raiders, both the AFC North and the AFC West became more interesting. Pittsburgh gave up an All-Pro, game-changing receiver and now appears like a lesser team in a tough division.
The Raiders, on the other hand, will now have a better chance to challenge the secondaries of the Broncos, Chargers, and Chiefs.
Out of those three divisional opponents, the Chiefs secondary might have the biggest questions marks. Kansas City looks improved with the addition of the Honey Badger safety Tyrann Mathieu, but the rest of the group will have a lot to prove.
There is a lot of potential talent between cornerbacks Kendall Fuller, Bashaud Breeland, Charvarius Ward, and rookie safety Juan Thornhill, but they have yet to prove that they can play shutdown coverage.
It will take time for Oakland quarterback Derek Carr to build chemistry with his new receiver and for this reason, Brown may not be in All-Pro form. But as talented as a receiver as he is, he’s definitely capable of making Carr looking good and posing a real threat to Kansas City.
It only takes recalling games like the loss in the final seconds of the game to the Raiders in 2017 to know how important taking away a player like Brown is.
Thankfully, the Chiefs offense is capable of staying ahead of opponents by putting a lot of points on the board. But let’s hope that that won’t be necessary and that the Chiefs’ defense will hold up their end of the bargain.
In order for this to happen, the Chiefs need to make as though Brown isn’t even a factor in weeks 2 and 13.