Following the offseason trade of All-Pro WR Tyreek Hill, there are plenty of questions surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs receiver group and its production moving forward.
Three new veteran receivers joined the room in 2022 with the free agent additions of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson. Each player shares the unique reality of making their names with future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady prior to joining Kansas City.
Making the change to Patrick Mahomes shouldn’t be much of an issue for these players given their experience with Roethlisberger, Rodgers and Brady. Mahomes feels like it’s actually advantageous to have receivers who played with those three quarterbacks.
He explained that advantage during Wednesday’s press conference.
“I think the biggest thing coming from quarterbacks like that, especially the ones that played a long time and been great for a long time, is they understand how to do stuff the way the quarterback wants it done,” said Mahomes. “I mean (they do stuff) not necessarily how it’s drawn up on paper. All three of those guys whenever you tell them something, they make sure to make that adjustment in their routes (because) they know that’s kind of what they dealt with their entire career. Sometimes when you get guys from other places, they just run the route how it’s supposed to be ran, but these guys have a great understanding of not only running the route but understanding the coverage as they’re running it and how it affects everybody.”
Valdes-Scantling was a consistent weapon for Rodgers throughout his tenure in Green Bay, while Smith-Schuster shined as a Pro Bowler with Roethlisberger. Watson was mostly a special-teamer during his tenure in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady, but he learned a thing or two playing beside him.
Each receiver will be counted on in situations where they’ll need to improvise and get open for Mahomes. He seems to have confidence that they all can work within the system, but also stray outside of it when necessary.
