The Kansas City Chiefs enter 2024 with high expectations, as they should any season with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid at the helm of the team.
With that in mind, many players in the starting lineup are kept on a tight leash, and if a player doesn’t perform as desired, Kansas City will quickly find someone who will, whether as a replacement, through a trade, or by signing a free agent.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chiefs’ starting lineup looks completely different in October, but there are a few key players who could be potential replacements.
Patrick Mahomes’ receiver core is one of those positions that has been in quite a flux since Mahomes took over. Right now, Mahomes’ starting receivers are Skyy Moore, Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice. But when Hollywood Brown returns from injury, one of those three will lose their starting spot and fall back to a backup position that still needs time.
The obvious answer here is Skyy Moore.
Rashee Rice is the best wide receiver on the team and he is poised for a great year. Last season he was selected in the second round by the Chiefs where he caught over 100 passes and nearly 1,000 yards. This season he could easily surpass the 1,000 yard mark and catch even more passes.
Xavier Worthy was selected in the team’s first round this year. He has game-winning speed and the potential to be one of the best deep threats in the game. His spot is secure unless he gets injured.
Moore is just unlucky at this point. He is still young and developing, but with Brown’s return, the team will simply have better options than him.
Moore will still play and achieve goals, but not in a starting position.
This is a bit difficult to judge. So far there is only speculation and nothing really indicates that this change will happen in the near future.
With that in mind, Justin Reid was pretty bad in coverage last year. The Chiefs defense made up for that overall, but that doesn’t change the fact that Kansas City didn’t see a good performance from Reid.
The replacement could be Jaden Hicks, the team’s 2024 fourth-round pick. Hicks is currently the backup safety in a three-man safety room. I would imagine the Chiefs defense will see a majority of all three safeties early in the year.
This would give Hicks the perfect opportunity to outplay Reid and earn his spot instead of Reid playing poorly.
Again, this is far from certain and definitely not in the plans at this time. But looking a few months into the future, this is the kind of move I can certainly see the Chiefs making if Reid’s coverage continues to wane.
OK, I want to make this as clear as possible. What I mean by that is that Xavier Worthy will no longer play as a punt returner, but as a wide receiver. I would obviously predict that Worthy will start all 17 games at wide receiver for Kansas City, barring injury. But I can’t imagine him playing every game as a punt returner.
He’s just not big enough to take the unnecessary hits of a punt returner. Worthy would provide a great opportunity, but the chances of making a punt return for six are very slim. Last season, there were only eight punt return touchdowns in the entire league.
Using Worthy as a punt returner is an invitation to blow him up and injure him before he can really get his rookie season started. It would only take one big hit and the Chiefs would likely pluck him from that role.
They have viable options like Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman who could take over the job and bring the same big-play skills without jeopardizing any of the team’s regular pass catchers.
