KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s the time of the year when weekly fantasy football drafts are done, or wrapping up soon ... and Chiefs players tend to be popular picks.
With good reason.
The Chiefs have an elite quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, and he’s in charge of one of the NFL’s top offenses. The Kansas City signal-caller has had a pair of All-Pro weapons in tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill in recent seasons.
But with Hill now playing for the Miami Dolphins, many fantasy football participants want to know who will replace Hill’s production this year.
Here’s the direct answer given by the player responsible for throwing the football to the Chiefs’ pass-catchers.
“I think there’s going to be a different player every single game that has the big game,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “It’s not going to necessarily be just Tyreek and Travis every single week, where one is having a big game, or both.
“It’s going to be every single week, it’s going to be someone different.”
Not exactly the answer those invested in fantasy football want to hear, especially if they spent time researching and drafting any of the Chiefs wide receivers in recent weeks.
Kelce is a given as Mahomes’ No. 1 option in the passing game, and Mecole Hardman, who’s entering a contract season, returns, too.
But after Hill’s departure, the Chiefs also signed several notable new receivers: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson. Those three signed as free agents, and then the Chiefs used a second-round pick on rookie Skyy Moore during the 2022 NFL draft.
Kansas City now has a versatile collection of receiving targets for Mahomes, who will look to exploit opponents using all of his receivers’ strengths — speed down the field, size and/or route-running.
It’s a pick-your-poison situation from a fantasy perspective. But Mahomes offered some consolation, if only in the form of an apology.
“I’m sorry to all you fantasy football guys,” he said, “But it’s going to come from everywhere, so you’re going to have to kind of choose the right guy every week.”
