Throughout the 2022 season, it was difficult to consume any of them Kansas City Chiefs News without mentioning their departure from the wide reception of Terek Hill. How Will quarterback Patrick Mahomes continue to produce without the No. 1 wide receiver? Can produced without it?
The real answers to these questions will begin to be revealed when the chiefs take the field against Arizona Cardinals Sunday afternoon—this time, without Hill, Byron Pringle, DeMarcus Robinson and Daryl Williams (and others), but joined by new additions like Marquis Valdes-Scantalling, JoJo Smith-Schuster, Ronald Jones and Isiah Pacheco.
“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone play together for a full game,” Andy Reed, coach of the Kansas City Reporters, said on Wednesday. “You can only taste it during pre-season.”
Reed said Mahomes has made all the changes a stride.
He recalled, “When we lost the receivers we’d lost, he was excited, first of all, to get the new guys: who’s going to have it here? Then we take it and run as soon as you sign it—literally take them to where he lives—and go.”
Reed was referring to Mahomes invites all pass holders to Texas During the first phase of the offseason program – which turned out to be a valuable experience for all new players.
“He was so excited to get them in and get them to work,” Reed recalls. “And that’s what he did.”
Thanks to this experience, Smith-Schuster said he’s developing chemistry with Mahomes — just as with tight end Travis Kelsey — at a brisk pace.
“I’ve been doing it for a while now,” he said. “Pat and Travis have their own chemistry and how they do one small thing; I just learn as I go. Throughout camp and all over OTAs—and even now, all week—I learned that.”
Previous Pittsburgh Steelers Widely says in Kansas City, it’s an important skill—because Mahomes receivers are expected to be able to improvise.
“We are not robots,” he explained. “We don’t just run what the text says – what the little lines say. At the end of the day, we have to run to open our doors. And that’s what we do.”
The new midfielder said that’s part of the advantage of having veteran players like Valdes-Scantling, Smith-Schuster and Jones: They already know how to work with a very good veteran midfielder.
“I think the most important thing [about players] Coming from back players like that — especially when they’ve played for a long time and been great for a long time,” the quarterback remarked, “Do they understand how to do things the way the quarterback wants it to be. I mean, it’s not like it’s written on paper.
“All these three guys – whenever I tell them something – they make sure to make this adjustment in their ways. They know this is kind of what they have dealt with their entire career.”
According to Mahomes, that’s not something you see on every veteran receiver.
“Sometimes when guys from other places come to you,” he said, “they just go down the road as if they were supposed to run.” “But these guys have a great understanding of not only road management, but understanding coverage while it’s running — and how it affects everyone.”
The end result is expected to be an absolutely unpredictable crime.
“I think there will be a different player in every game that has a big game,” Mahomes said. “It’s not necessarily going to be just Trek and Travis every week, where it’s like one of them has a big game – or both. It’s going to be every week, it’s going to be a different person.”
Then Mahomes smiled.
“So I’m sorry to all of you fantasy football Guys, because they will come from everywhere. So you will have to pick the right guy every week.”
Smith Schuster echoed the quarterback.
“Just know that everyone will be everywhere,” he said. “Everyone will be everywhere—inside, outside, you name it. There will be a lot of things that a lot of people are going to see in the first week and they will be, ‘Wow.’ yes. That’s what bosses are. “
But Reed was careful to note that like any other team in any other season, his team will continue to work.
“Every week he tells you a new story,” exclaims the veteran coach, now the only head coach in NFL history to have coached two different teams for at least 100 games. “Are you going to keep going? Where’s the plateau? If you take some dips, how do you deal with it?”
“That’s what the classes give you. And you have to work through it all. If you haven’t had it with some guys – or the chemistry between all the guys together, work – how will that take? Well…we’ll see.”
“That’s the unique thing about it: every year it’s a little different in how it’s done — and you’re excited for the part, to see how it all evolves.”
But despite being known as a player who never misses an opportunity to remind people that he’s been underestimated in the press, Mahomes denied he would enter the season motivated by off-season ratings that put him behind rival quarterbacks like Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow.
“I think you have to be excited every year,” he reminded reporters. “In this league, everyone starts from scratch. Everyone has a chance to go out there and win Energy. If you don’t have that drive every year to win the West Asian title, to win the Football League title and then win the Super Bowl, then you’re in the wrong career.”
By this criterion, Smith Schuster fits into the new midfielder.
“I came here for a reason,” he insisted. “I came here to win. I came to win the Super Bowl.”
Wherever you will finally end, that journey begins (finally) on Sunday.
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