Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15:
My hope would be that any WR we draft is to play outside with Rice and we're planning for life post-Kelce.
We sure as shit shouldn't be using a pick on a MVS replacement who's job is to get his cardio in.
In a perfect world you get a guy that can do both. While not a burner, I think Rice is more capable of it than we're giving him credit for.
People (myself included) wanted DeAndre Hopkins?
We got the younger, slightly less polished version in Rice.
Life Post-Kelce involves a LOT of freed up cap space.
I'll worry about that if/when it becomes a reality. Right now we have Kelce and we have Rice and we have a 3-peat possibility in front of us.
I'll take the guy who helps more next season over a guy who might help us more in 3 seasons when we're likely looking at something of a hard re-set anyway.
You wanna talk crystal balls - THAT'S what you'll need to envision life after Kelce. Because that could be life after Reid or Spags. It's at/near life after Chris Jones. It's a whole new ballgame then.
Originally Posted by TambaBerry:
It's not about supporting a 1k 3rd option it's about having competent players out there that can be relied upon. Either way I absolutely think this offense could support 3 guys getting close to 1k.
Y'all really should take a look around the league and see what the 3rd option in other teams passing offenses looks like. [Reply]
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
We won this year because we had the best defense in the league. Wouldn't have happened otherwise.
We cannot accept last year's offense or the approach taken at WR as good enough to run it back with. Teams almost never repeat defensive years like the one we just had even with similar personnel.
Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15:
Again - the 3rd option has never broken 700 yards - so not sure why you think Watkins was "basically" that guy.
This offense isn't built for it - we have 9-10 guys catch a pass every week.
Our offense worked much much MUCH better in 2022 with a credible threat in MVS than it did in 2023 when teams just stopped covering him because he was....well the hell if I know what he was. He was a mess is what he was.
MVS in 2022 wasn't a weapon on his own, but he was a force multiplier that made a broke-dick like JJSS a 900 yard receiver. That's how critical a speed guy is in this offense.
It isn't just about his yards. It's about his impact on the offense writ large. It's no different than saying "Man, Karlaftis has more sacks than Jones - do we even need to bring CJ back?"
What these guys do to make life easier for their teammates is a big deal. A deep threat opens things up for us. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Why use even a 2nd on it under that rationale?
The reason you target speed there is because it's a credible threat that even if it DOESN'T net 800 yards at WR3, will create more room for Kelce and Rice to operate.
Look no further than 2022 for the theory in action.
If you're not going to find an all-fields guy, find a guy who helps the dudes you have. Speed does that. Size really doesn't.
You are spot on as usual.
“Credible threat” is the perfect description.
It’s not necessarily about the yards…it’s about taking the top off the defense. [Reply]
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
Kelce had the best year of his career and we had rock solid competency across the board at WR that filled all key roles.
JJSS = the zone beater + YAC + back-shoulder threat
MVS = consistent deep threat
McKinnon = safety blanket and EZ button for Mahomes
And those guys all stayed healthy for the most part.
I'll never say we need an 'Alpha WR1' to win a SB. We don't. But there's no sense in making it as hard as last year was.
The post-Tyreek Chiefs offense is completely dependent on Kelce.
Part of last year's struggle was Kelce was slowing down in his ability to carry the non-Cheetah JAGS game after game.
It cost us the 1 seed. Luckily he got enough rest and was his HOF self by the playoffs but the draft should be all about securing a post-Kelce future if a WR that could be a #1 is in striking range. [Reply]
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
Kelce had the best year of his career and we had rock solid competency across the board at WR that filled all key roles.
JJSS = the zone beater + YAC + back-shoulder threat
MVS = consistent deep threat
McKinnon = safety blanket and EZ button for Mahomes
And those guys all stayed healthy for the most part.
I'll never say we need an 'Alpha WR1' to win a SB. We don't. But there's no sense in making it as hard as last year was.
Let's say we reached with both our 1st and 2nd round picks:
1.32: Xavier Worthy
2.64: Will Shipley
With Kelce/Rice I think you have the rough equivalent of Kelce/JJSS (Rice is better than JJSS, 2024 Kelce will be worse than 2022 Kelce).
Worthy can/should absolutely be a consistent deep threat. Guy has unique speed and produced at a Power 5 school. You're not asking much of him to do what MVS did in 2022. And Shipley is a nasty receiving RB; shifty and elusive -- good hands out of the backfield though Clemson didn't always use them.
That's a 'bad' draft but gives us an offense with component parts substantially similar to the 2022 version.
Would you be on board with that? What if we got Sneed extended pre-draft?
I think the short answer is probably no.
(Which gets me back to my previous point - the 2022 offense was incredible because Patrick Mahomes was incredible. And he wasn't in 2023. But that just pisses people off when I say it so I'll go ahead and pocket that one for now...) [Reply]
Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15:
Y'all really should take a look around the league and see what the 3rd option in other teams passing offenses looks like.
Kelce gives you about 400 more yards than the average starting TE. So 600-700 yards from number 3 is fine. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
It doesn't take a crystal ball to watch Josh Fields and see that he has slow eyes, doesn't read the field well, is inaccurate down the field and inaccurate in general.
It's like seeing that Derek Carr shits his pants in the red zone under pressure. If you watch it, you can see it.
Upgrading at the WR spots outside of Rice is not about having another 1,000 yard receiver there. It's just about having better players around the 2 guys you're trying to emphasize.
KC needs to improve the threat level defenses perceive in defending the ball outside the intermediate ranges of the field. It also needs to improve the ability to beat man coverage. There are multiple paths to those two components, but failure to address them will lead to another frustrating year for the offense. Relying solely on draft picks and tier 3 bargain FAs is a narrow path (that we just walked). Repeating it COULD work. Or could not.
I get the sticker shock (I'm still experiencing it) but it is what it is, and it's across the board. Rising top-of-market deals lift all deals. Including at WR.
I don't get the sticker shock at all.
Our best WR is a 2nd round cost controlled asset and we are likely adding another high drafted WR this year.
Paying 1 WR 12 million is peanuts in the grand scheme of things.
We just cut MVS who saved us the $$$ so why not go use it on a player that is worth what we were going to pay him? [Reply]
If this guy is there for us at 32, despite the size concerns he has to be an option. The 2021 game vs Oklahoma, he goes for 75 yards on the first play on a wide receiver screen. Then he burns them twice deep, as the game goes on the Oklahoma DBs are backing off ten yards and taking running starts and he still torches them.
The thing that he has besides speed is he can track that deep ball. Doesn't mean we can't get another receiver, but he opens up the playbook considerably above what we had last year. [Reply]
