Every NFL team is dealing with players leaving to join another club. The Chiefs are trying to fill a void for key departures after the first wave of free agency before the 2023 NFL Draft kicks off in Kansas City.
Speaking with NFL Network's Steve Wyche at the Annual League Meeting on Saturday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid opened up about who he expects to have a bigger role after wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman left in free agency.
"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."
It's a tall task for Moore, who is entering his second season. Moore didn't get a lot of action as a rookie due to a deep WR depth chart that included Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kadarius Toney, Smith-Schuster and Hardman. With Smith-Shuster and Hardman now gone, Reid is looking for bigger production from the 2022 second-round pick.
Moore played in 19 games (three starts) last season, including playoffs and contributed 27 receptions for 267 yards and one touchdown, which he saved for the Super Bowl.
With players like Moore needing to step up, Reid is expecting Patrick Mahomes to continue the success he's had with new faces every season. The head coach provided an update on Mahomes' ankle, injured during a grueling playoff run, as well.
"He didn't have to get anything done. He's doing good, he feels good," Reid said. "This time, he jumped right back into workouts and working the ankle, rehabbing the ankle. He's lifting and running the parts that he could run, and he didn't miss a beat on that."
With Mahomes trending in the right direction heading into training camp, Kansas City could still add another new face or veteran pass catcher to its roster alongside Moore. One possible name to watch in Gregg Rosenthal's Top 101 free agents is his No. 9 ranked player, Odell Beckham.
Asked if there were any discussions of trying to add a player like Beckham, Reid replied: "Odell is a good football player. Yeah, he does a nice job. So, we'll see how all that goes."
