Everyone expected the Kansas City Chiefs to make an investment in the receiver position at some point in the 2022 NFL draft. That’s just what happens when you go out and trade away a future Hall of Fame receiver in the months leading up to the draft.
The Chiefs added Skyy Moore with pick No. 54 in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft. The question that everyone wants to know about Moore now: What will Moore’s rookie season look like?
In The Huddle’s preseason fantasy football projections, Moore falls as the No. 50th ranked receiver, with a projected stat line of 52 receptions for 720 yards and five touchdowns. Moore comes in as the fourth-ranked rookie receiver, coming in behind Garrett Wilson (Jets, 38), Treylon Burks (Titans, 39) and Drake London (Falcons, 41).
One of the reasons they seem to be so high on Moore as a rookie is because the Chiefs need to replace a ton of 2021 targets due to offseason departures. They actually have the second-highest percentage of targets to replace next to the Titans per CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso.
The opportunity will be there for Moore to carve out a nice role for himself within the offense, but what does history say about the possibilities? Over the years, Andy Reid’s system has been deemed notoriously difficult for receivers to pick up in their first year. Go back to his time in Philadelphia and his best rookie receivers were two of his best pros in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin.
Reid’s time in Kansas City hasn’t proven much different. His most productive rookie receiver was actually Tyreek Hill, who accounted for the greatest share of targets, yards and total touchdowns of any Chiefs rookie wideout in his tenure. His second best was Mecole Hardman in 2019, who had the greatest percentage of snaps of any Chiefs rookie receiver under Reid.
Took a look at #Chiefs wide receivers draftees production in their rookie years. If you take out Powell and Brown, who didn't make the roster, the averages are 5.53% target rate, 5.84% of the total passing yards, 23.34% of the snaps, and 3 touchdowns (carried by Tyreek) pic.twitter.com/7rVgoaOjUd
— Zack Eisen (@zackeisen21) May 12, 2022
Unless Moore is a huge outlier, the projections from our friends at The Huddle look to be spot on, if not a little generous. He’ll be contending for snaps, targets and touches with Hardman, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. He’ll also be getting used to Reid’s system and his role within it, which has proven difficult for rookies in the past.