Andy Reid's Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver room has taken some hits in free agency, as the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman have signed contracts with the New England Patriots and New York Jets, respectively. The departures of both talented pass-catchers mean that the Chiefs will need others to step up. Reid, speaking to NFL Network's Steve Wyche ahead of the Annual League Meetings, put one receiver in particular, Skyy Moore, on notice. Reid said that the Chiefs “are expecting” him to step up.
“We are expecting Skyy Moore to step up,” Reid said. “We'll just see how everything else works. We got the same guys coming back that we had, and we like that group with the exception of JuJu. Mecole was banged up a little bit so he didn't have a chance to play as much as he would have wanted. We'll work out the thing without JuJu. Somebody will have to step up and take that spot.”
Reid acknowledged the Chiefs didn't get as much playing time out of Hardman, who battled an abdominal injury at the end of the season, as they would have wanted.
But Reid isn't sugarcoating anything with Moore, last year's second round pick.
The Chiefs expect the Western Michigan product to fill the void left behind by Smith-Schuster, who tallied just under 1000 receiving yards for Kansas City, and Hardman, a solid contributor when healthy.
The Chiefs have been linked to star wideout DeAndre Hopkins in the trade market, as well as free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
But if no stars are walking through that door, Moore, who was benched in year one, will have to be better.