With Patrick Mahomes (mostly) throwing him the football over the past five seasons, speedster Tyreek Hill averaged 125 targets, 83.6 catches, 1,207 yards and 10 touchdowns per season. Those numbers, clearly, are elite.
Unfortunately for Chiefs fans (or possibly fortunately considering his off-field issues), Hill is now a member of the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City is now looking for other receivers on the roster to step up in his absence and provide Mahomes with another top target aside from tight end Travis Kelce. Potential Hill replacements include former Steeler JuJu Smith-Schuster, ex-Packer Marquez Valdes-Scantling, rookie Skyy Moore and longtime Chief Mecole Hardman.
Speaking about the situation to reporters, Mahomes indicated the Chiefs are going to be taking a No. 1 receiver-by-committee approach that will provide a chance for different players to seize the lead on any given week. While that approach may help Mahomes stack stats and the Chiefs win games, it won’t be very helpful for fantasy managers who spend a mid-round pick on Smith-Schuster, Valdes-Scantling or Moore. Mahomes said as much…
“The biggest thing is there’s going to be a different player every single game that has the big game,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “It’s not going to be just necessarily Tyreek and Travis [Kelce] every single week, where it’s like one or the other having a big game or both. Every single week, it’s going to be someone different. So I’m sorry to all you fantasy football guys. It’s going to come from everywhere, so you’re going to have to kind of choose the right guy every week.”
Based on how Mahomes performed in the preseason, during which he completed 18 passes to 10 different receivers, it’s probably best to take him at his word. “It’s going to be hard for teams to game plan against,” Mahomes said. “Obviously, Travis is going to probably have a lot of catches. That’s just who he is. Other than that, it’s going to come from the whole group and I think the guys have kind of embraced that. That’s what you want on a team and as an offense.”
But not as a fantasy manager…unless Mahomes is your quarterback or Kelce, who tallied 92 catches for 1,125 yards and nine touchdowns while making his seventh-straight Pro Bowl last season, is your tight end.
Our first glimpse to see how the revamped KC offense looks will be on Sunday when the Chiefs travel to the desert for an afternoon date with Arizona Cardinals. Start Mahomes. Start Kelce. Wait on everyone else.
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