It hasn't even been a month since the Chiefs shocked the NFL with a blockbuster trade, sending All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins. The trade represented a reboot of sorts, with the team now fully committed to building around the second wave of skill players to compliment Patrick Mahomes. On Monday, Mahomes sat down with local media for the first time since the trade happened to talk about his reaction, and what it means for the offense -- and the team as a whole -- going forward.
"It's definitely going to be different in a sense," he said. "I feel like we still have a strong foundation of guys that have been here the past few years. With Coach Reid, Coach Bienemy, and now having a guy like Coach Nagy back, I mean, he's someone that I've worked with before. So I have that commonality. As far as being on the field, we're bringing in a lot of different receivers, but I still have a guy like [Travis Kelce], that can kind of teach the ways that we do things, how we practice, everything like that. [Mecole Hardman] can do that as well. We'll have to find production in different ways than we did the last year, because Tyreek was such a big part of our offense. But I think you've seen in games when we haven't had Tyreek or other certain people, other guys have stepped up and made plays happen. I expect that to happen this year as well."
And while the Chiefs' wide receiver room will certainly look different this year -- the team's already added JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and is rumored to be eyeing some of this year's top wide receivers in the draft -- Mahomes expressed confidence that this season's group actually provides an element that the team has been lacking in past years.
"I think the biggest thing you see is that we have a lot of size in that room that we haven't had in the past," he added. "We've done it in different ways, with speed and beating guys deep, stuff like that. But to have big, physical receivers that can still run and catch the ball over the top -- there's been balls that I've thrown out there and I've thrown it high thinking it's an over-throw, and the guys are catching it easy. So just having that size I think will be different. I'm excited for it -- I think it'll be something that can be very useful for us during the season."
