KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In some recent informal workouts in Texas, quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw passes to a group of receivers that included Marquez Valdes-Scantling y JuJu Smith-Schuster, two recent free agent signings from the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes threw some passes that he initially thought would be well over the heads of the 6-foot-4 Valdes-Scantling and 6-foot-1 Smith-Schuster.
Instead, Mahomes said, “Those guys are catching easy.”
The Chiefs have lost the dynamic playmaking ability of Tyreek Hill, his former No. 1 wide receiver who was traded last month to the Miami Dolphins for a package of draft picks. For Mahomes, having a set of receivers with a larger receiving radius is one way the Chiefs can make up for Hill’s departure.
“The biggest thing you see actually in throwing all these guys is that we have a lot of size in that receiving room that we haven’t necessarily had in the past,” Mahomes said this week as the Chiefs began their offseason conditioning program. . “We’ve done it different ways with speed and beating guys deep. … Being that size, I think, is going to be different. I’m excited about it, and I think it’s going to be something that’s going to come in handy for us throughout the season.
“Having a reception room this good [con] everybody that can come out there and make plays, it’s going to be great competition and it’s going to help us in the long run.”
The Chiefs haven’t finalized their offensive plans. They haven’t seen Valdes-Scantling or Smith-Schuster on their practice field yet, and with two picks in each of the first four rounds of the upcoming draft, Kansas City may well add a receiver or two.
Still, coach Andy Reid said he didn’t expect the Chiefs to have a significantly different offense than the one they’ve operated in recent years. He said he, too, is intrigued by adding some bigger receivers to help replace the 5-foot-10 Hill.
“There are certain things that he did very well, and we’ll ask people to try to fill those gaps without forcing anything,” Reid said. “Normally what we do in this is play to people’s strengths as best we can. We’ll see with some of the new guys what they can do and work around that.”
“We are fortunate that they have speed, athleticism and size. We try to take those positive qualities and [utilizarlas] the best we can. It ends up being a little bit different style than we’ve had in the past.”
It’s been a while since Mahomes played a wide receiver like Valdes-Scantling, who runs fast which suits his size. For the most part, he has thrown to smaller wide receivers like Hill and Mecole Hardmanalso 5-foot-10, or middle receivers like the former Chiefs Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle y Sammy Watkinsall 6 feet 1 inch.
Chris Conley6-foot-3, is the last wide receiver of similar size to play under Mahomes, with his last season coming in 2018.
“Marquez can do a lot of different things,” Reid said. “He’s got good stop-and-go ability. He’s a great target. He can run the slant routes. He can take your deep pitches. He can run those intermediate routes. He’s got a good feel in the space, so he gives us a little bit of flexibility.” in there.”
Boasting a receiving group that included speedy players like Hill and Hardman, Mahomes and the Chiefs last season faced defensive schemes that included a lot of two-safety coverage. Opponents had more success using that type of coverage against the Chiefs by limiting the number of big plays.
Mahomes said that without Hill, he wondered if opponents would change their tactics.
“I’m very interested to see how defenses play us in general,” Mahomes said. “A lot of that coverage was because of the speed that we had on the outside. This year we still have that speed thanks to Valdes-Scantling and Mecole, but we also have bigger guys that can catch him up the middle with [el ala cerrada Travis Kelce de 6 pies 5 pulgadas], obviously, and JuJu and all these guys. We have a good mix of speed and size, which I think will force defenses to not only play those deep covers, but also come up and play some man-to-man coverage, too.
“They won’t know exactly where the ball goes on every play. We’ve got so many different guys that can make plays on this offense. I’m excited to get out there and spread the ball around.”