Chiefs Could Be ‘Bullied’ Into Finally Trading For A Receiver

The Kansas City Chiefs got embarrassed on national television by the Seattle Seahawks, according to Ben Solak of ESPN, who thinks the Chiefs’ loss will “bully” them into making the trade they need to make for a wide receiver. 

The 20-3 loss on Sunday night wasn’t completely surprising, but the degree of domination shown by the Seahawks was. It marked just the second time in the career of quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ career that the Chiefs have been held to three or fewer points. 

Solak went on to list some painful advanced stats. The 11 first downs the Chiefs accumulated were their fewest in 153 Mahomes starts, and this was only his fourth start without what the writer called a single explosive pass. The offense averaged 4.3 yards per play (148th out of 153), produced minus-0.13 EPA per play (148th) and had a success rate of 34 percent(152nd).

It wasn’t hard to see this coming. The Seahawks defense was jacked up to stop Kenneth Walker III, and they were able to do just that against a patchwork Chiefs offensive line. The Chiefs were missing two key receivers in Tyquan Thornton and Rashee Rice, and no one stepped up after a decent collective performance against the Los Angeles Chargers the week before. 

The interior run game has been what Solak referred to as Kansas City’s ace in the hole, but there were no holes to be found for Walker on Sunday. Seahawks defensive tackles Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II were waiting with open arms for Walker for most of the night, and the result was an offense that couldn’t get out of its own way throughout the evening. 

The issues of Rice and offensive tackle Josh Simmons now loom large. Simmons was kicked out of a meeting and placed on IR last week, and Rice has now missed 27 of the 43 games he could have played, per Solak, due to injuries or suspension. Rice simply isn’t available consistently, and Simmons is now a different problem that goes beyond injuries. 

Solak added Xavier Worthy to his list of unreliable players, and he’s not wrong there. Worthy caught just three passes for eleven yards, and he had a key drop that had Mahomes grimacing after the play. 

The big question the writer posed was whether GM Brett Veach will actually go ahead and do this deal given that the Chiefs are 5-1. Staying the course looks like it would be a bad mistake, but it could happen nonetheless.