The Kansas City Chiefs have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL when fully healthy and clicking on all cylinders. However, the Chiefs’ WR corps must improve this offseason.
The Kansas City Chiefs have several issues they must address this offseason.
Sterling Xie of the Pro Football Network recently released a list of the most pressing questions facing every team’s wide receivers, noting that the Chiefs’ group of wide receivers was ravaged by injuries that eventually caught up with Kansas City in the Super Bowl. Still, when they are healthy, the Chiefs boast a formidable group of wide receivers.
“The Kansas City Chiefs’ preferred wide receiver grouping never materialized in 2024. Hollywood Brown was injured on the first drive of the preseason and didn’t return until Week 16. By then, Rashee Rice was long gone with a torn LCL, which cut short a promising first month,” Xie said.
“Rice will be back as a centerpiece, but the rest of the wide receiver room looks very uncertain. Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Justin Watson are all free agents. Collectively, those represent four of the six WRs that received a snap for the Chiefs in the playoffs (Xavier Worthy played 138 snaps, while kick returner Nikko Remigio played three).”
Xie noted that while Kansas City’s top two wide receivers are undoubtedly talented, the group as a whole is top-heavy and has very little quality depth behind those two. Veteran tight end Travis Kelce is always a quality pass catching option, but as he continues to age, Kansas City will have to limit his play if he decides to return instead of retiring.
“The Chiefs probably won’t want or need to keep all of them with Rice and Worthy leading the wide receiver room next season. But Travis Kelce will need regular-season load management if he returns at all, and Kansas City doesn’t have any depth behind their top two wideouts. Rebuilding that receiver room will play a factor in whether the Chiefs can recover from another long season to run the gauntlet again in 2025,” Xie said.
Kansas City is still stocked with talent at most positions on the field. However, the Super Bowl exposed the Chiefs’ weaknesses at wide receiver and offensive line. While the Chiefs likely would not have struggled as much in the Super Bowl had their top wide receivers been healthy, they must still add to the position group, as they are again an injury to Rice or Worthy away from being in a similar situation next season.
