Analyzing the Chiefs' Wide Receiving Core After Week 6
Arrowhead Report's Tucker Franklin and Conner Christopherson take a look at the Kansas City Chiefs' wide receiving core after their 26-17 win over the Buffalo Bills on Monday and decide if the team is on the right track to filling the void of Sammy Watkins.
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00:00Let's talk about this receiving core now. I know that's a smooth transition, but we've seen
00:08Demarcus Robinson
00:10Arises the leading pass and I will say pass catcher because he got 69 yards a nice stat line from him
00:16He was able to be the leading receiver
00:19Did that surprise you at all that Demarcus Robinson got that many targets?
00:23I know a lot of people were hoping to see and it wasn't just the targets, too
00:28He also got the most snaps that wide receiver. Yes
00:31I know a lot of people were hoping to see McCall Hardman at Watkins
00:36At Watkins role because Watkins is gonna miss a few games because of the hamstring injury
00:42but it never really made sense to me because Watkins role in the offense is that X wide receiver and
00:48I don't think Hardman really has the skill set right now to play that and I don't think Robinson necessarily has it either
00:54But he's more of a prototypical
00:57X receiver light
00:59Then Hardman is and I think will ever be
01:03Which is kind of probably sacrilege to a few people right now because they're still in on McCall Hardman and his playmaking ability
01:10But the X wide receiver really has to be good at getting off press man. They have to be good at route running
01:16they have to be
01:18They have to be good at a lot of things that I don't think McCall Hardman is right now
01:23I don't know if he ever will be because he also just doesn't have the size to play right like I would say
01:28Sammy Watkins is probably the smallest you could get at X wide receiver and he does it
01:32Well because his releases are so good and his route running so good
01:36But Hardman's neither of those things right now. So
01:40Seeing Robinson play that role. I was not really surprised. I was hoping I mean Pringle's not even that's
01:47That a big two, but he has the route running chops for it and he can get off press man
01:51So I was hoping maybe he would get some snaps at that
01:54I don't know if he did or not because he definitely got more snaps. I think he got 23 or so
01:59But seeing Robinson just play the X role
02:02And we're and replacing Watkins was not surprising to me at all and he had a good game, too
02:07Like he had a lot of had a lot of good plays. He was good after the catch which is
02:13Kind of rare for him because he kind of flails and does weird things a lot, but he was just solid all around
02:20Cut he didn't drop a pass
02:23So and it was raining too. So mm-hmm props to him. He had a good game
02:28Marcus Robinson always has that ability to catch hard balls
02:31But drop easy ones and that might have been the case on Monday with it
02:34You know being ready in the conditions not optimal to throw it. And so every really hard
02:40Yeah, so it was just just easy for him because it was hard
02:43I don't know, but I like seeing DeMarcus Robinson in that role
02:46I'm kind of I'm starting to come around more on DeMarcus Robinson
02:50Maybe I should check the phrasing on that, but I'm starting to like him more as a receiver
02:55I think his usage is you know where you know, it's 69 snaps
03:00He got the highest snaps count of all receivers
03:02Which I think is kind of crazy when you look back at it Tyree kill has kind of been relatively quiet so far this year
03:08He hasn't had a ton of deep deep plays, but we've already mentioned that defenses are wanting to take that away
03:13So then we've seen him get more involved in the running game and stuff like that
03:17So I think DeMarcus Robinson is it's probably a good
03:20Fill in for that X role just because of his frame and stuff like that, right? And
03:26Robinson
03:27I've always been it's like a lukewarm type feeling with him. Like he's he's good. He makes he sometimes makes some plays
03:34He sometimes drops the pass
03:37But he's comfortable in the offense now. He's been in it for four years. So
03:42Or five years now, isn't it? Oh god, it's been a while
03:47So it's like you don't you definitely want in the Chiefs offense you want somebody that's comfortable with it because it's so complex at times
03:54So and he's got he's one of the few wide receivers that the Chiefs has that has size. So
04:02He's definitely somebody who can play the X and he might be the only one
04:08Really that they have right now they can
04:10I talked to my article this week is is actually about the X wide receiver in the future of it for the Chiefs and
04:16I don't think the Chiefs future X wide receiver is on the roster if they don't bring back Sammy Watkins
04:22I think they will have to look at the 2021 draft and
04:27Because the 2021 wide receiver draft is so deep and people are saying it's as deep as the 2020 draft
04:33Which is showing out already in the NFL
04:37Justin Jefferson T Higgins
04:40CD lamb all having great starts to their years
04:432021 might be just as good and
04:45The Chiefs might have a really good wide receiver prospect fall to them
04:49And I think it'll be very hard for them to say no if they don't bring back Sammy Watkins and Newark is Robinson
04:54Who are both free agents after this year? So
04:58McCall Harmon might be relegated to a slot slash Z wide receiver role
05:04Or Tyree kill lines up and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing
05:08I think it kind of does suck when you see players like
05:12Terry McCord and DK Metcalf go after McCall Harmon in a 2019 draft, but
05:17Having McCall skill set on the offense is still valuable. I don't think he'll develop into what people are hoping he will though
05:26So I've seen this a lot on Twitter. I don't know if it's from a bunch of certified people
05:31But I've seen this take a lot
05:34Should should the Chiefs prepare to sell McCall Harmon?
05:38No
05:40This offense is predicated on speed and if it Tyree killed does get injured
05:46You lose basically all your speed if you sell McCall Harmon
05:51The only reason defenses are scared deep is because the Chiefs have Tyree kill McCall Harmon
05:58There's nobody really else other than those two that can press deep and make defenses respect that
06:03Because they have both of them. That's that is letting them work underneath and in the run game at times. So
06:11I don't think selling it. It's not like he's expensive either. So and you're not gonna get much back
06:18For him right now like this the Bengals John Ross just requested a trade
06:24They're not gonna get much back for him and McCall Harmon's done more in the NFL than John Ross, but
06:30His skill set is kind of similar in that he can sometimes run decent routes. His hands are okay
06:38He can't play outside, but he's fast. So
06:43That's his that's his main
06:46Benefit to the team right now and it's needed to if Tyree kill does get injured
06:50So they should definitely hold on to him at least
06:53You