The Kansas City Chiefs revamped their wide receiver corps by trading Tyreek Hill, signing JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, drafting Skyy Moore in the second round and adding Justyn Ross as an undrafted free agent.
The main holdover from last year's group, Mecole Hardman, told NFL Network's Good Morning Football on Friday that he expects Patrick Mahomes to give every receiver a chance to shine.
"Definitely opportunity, for sure," he said. "A guy like Tyreek with a lot of targets, I think it's a lot of targets to go around. Obviously, we've got a good group of guys, receivers-wise, so it's definitely going to be a good year to come up a little bit and just have fun with it and just take advantage of the opportunity."
Earlier this offseason, Hardman noted that he doesn't feel "pressure" to fill the void left by Hill. But a Year 4 breakout from the wideout would go a long way in the Chiefs remaining a big-play force. For Hardman, it all starts with the QB and TE.
"The offense, they're gonna be explosive," he said. "You got Patrick Mahomes at the helm; he's got the keys to the car. Then you've got the best tight end in the league in Travis Kelce. When you've got those two guys and our offensive line that's revamped that's going to be pretty good again this year, I think you can lean on those guys to have a successful offense. I think, just with Pat and Trav alone, the offense is going to be great regardless.
"With the pieces of me, JuJu, Marquez, I think we're gonna have a significant role in the offense to boost it up a bit. I think you're gonna see a more overall play of the offense."
It was evident from their moves this offseason that the Chiefs want to get better over the middle to help bust two-high schemes that have given them trouble in the past. Expect the Chiefs to spread the ball around a lot in 2022.
With Andy Reid and Mahomes running the offense, K.C. remains a potent force even without the fastest receiver in the NFL.
