The Kansas City Chiefs added a new receiver to the roster last week, but does the move take the team out of the running for other additions?
The Chiefs agreed to terms with former San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants WR Richie James last week. While James is certainly competitive depth for Kansas City, he hardly moves the needle for the team as far as the wide receiver position is concerned.
As a return specialist, it’s an entirely different story, as he has more professional experience as a punt and kick returner than any other player on the team. It stands to reason that players like Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney and Isiah Pacheco will earn larger roles in 2023, which means the team had a big need to add a return specialist.
At the receiver position, consider the players the Chiefs have lost (Mecole Hardman and JuJu Smith-Schuster) or have yet to re-sign (Justin Watson). Those players combined for over 100 receptions for over 1,500 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns in 2022.
Say James were to replicate his 2022 NFL season (57-569-4) in Kansas City, the best season to this point in his NFL career, he wouldn’t even be able to replace half of that production. If anything, James is more a piece of the puzzle rather than a solution to the team’s concerns at the receiver position.
Last season, when Kansas City traded away Tyreek Hill, they didn’t replace that star power with more star power. Instead, the team replaced that star power with volume. They had a number of players who contributed at the wide receiver spot throughout the season. There was rarely a week that went by where the leading receiver was the same in Kansas City (excluding Travis Kelce). For now, it seems like they’re once again attacking the problem with numbers.
This move shouldn’t prevent them from going out and adding more players to the receiver room. They won’t be in the market to add someone on a contract like the one that was just handed out to Odell Beckham Jr. by the Baltimore Ravens. The Chiefs do still have a need at the position and roster space to make additions.
Right now, they’ve got 10 players at receiver under contract. Last season, the initial iteration of the 90-man offseason roster had 12 receivers. Whether it’s via the draft, undrafted free agency and trade, expect a minimum of two more additions to be made at receiver, if not more.
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