With the NFL trade deadline still weeks away but a need at the wide receiver position being present right now, the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in a strange spot. Coming out of a Week 5 bye, Andy Reid's team hasn't made any major additions to boost the ceiling of the room.
Perhaps the acquisition of Justin Watson can elevate the floor, but there's ample reason to be skeptical of such a prospect. The club whiffed on or simply didn't express enough interest in moving for new Houston Texans pass catcher Marvin Harrison Jr., so the in-house options will be rolled with until the next domino falls.
With no Tyquan Thornton on the field for the foreseeable future, who should Kansas City turn to as a long-term replacement? Is it one player or multiple? Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Reid expressed that he has faith in each person on the depth chart.
"That's the way things worked out for Tyquan," Reid said. "He was having a very good year, and I'm sad to see what happened to him because of that. And he's a great kid on top of all that. But one man's loss is another man's opportunity to jump in and do that. Whoever that might be that's got the call, if they make the play, then that's a positive. But I have trust in all the guys, and Xavier (Worthy) is still in there, too. He's coming off a couple of good catches the last couple of games."
Subtracting Thornton from the equation leaves KC with Worthy, Rashee Rice, first-year man Cyrus Allen, second-year man Jalen Royals, Nikko Remigio and Watson as the main non-tight end targets. Complicating things is that Rice suffered a hamstring injury early in Week 4's win over the Las Vegas Raiders and isn't practicing right after the bye. That leaves his status for Week 6 in question, thus underscoring how dire things could be for the Chiefs.
Can a cast of some shaky vets and the intriguing-but-quiet rookie get the job done versus the Los Angeles Chargers this weekend? Quarterback Patrick Mahomes echoed the same sentiment as Reid, saying his message to the Chiefs' wideouts is nothing but belief.
"It's that they're ready," Mahomes said. "They've put in the work. Obviously, we've had guys in front of them with Tyquan going out there playing great football. They've had to put in the work at practice, and they've been doing that and doing that. Now their number gets called, and they're going to step up to the role and do their job. I'm excited for them. We'll put them in positions to succeed. I have a lot of trust in those guys — a lot of confidence in them — so we'll just continue to push it forward."
Through four games, Worthy is tied for the team lead in targets with 22. He tops the wideout collective with 14 receptions, although both Thornton (219) and Rice (190) who have more yards. Royals' stat line is just three catches for 17 yards; Allen has two targets but no receptions on all of 10 offensive snaps.
If Kansas City has a high-scoring offensive output without Thornton and potentially minus Rice, it'll have to stem from someone like Worthy and perhaps an unsung hero stepping up. With the expectation and standard set at practice, Mahomes thinks the depth is prepared.
"It's going to make it easier for them," Mahomes said. "When you're kind of getting thrown in, you never know which position you're going to be at and what route you're going to be on. It's hard. That's part of playing in the NFL, you don't get those reps that you necessarily would've had in college and high school and stuff like that."
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