The Kansas City Chiefs’ receivers laid an egg in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions. The sheer volume of drops from the group would have been unbelievable if each miscue wasn’t broadcast live to a national audience on Thursday night.
But not all was lost in the heartbreaking one-point loss to Detroit. Training camp darling Justyn Ross and Marquez Valdes-Scantling led the Chiefs’ receiving corps in one key metric that may bode well for their production in the coming weeks.
Buy Chiefs TicketsChiefs wide receiver tonight catch percentage +/- expected:
Valdes-Scantling +34.9%
Ross +25.8%
Waton -1.7%
James -10.3%
Rice -10.6%
Toney -58.9%
Moore -61.3%Woof.
— Matt Derrick (@mattderrick) September 8, 2023
Catch rank over (or under, in this case) expected is a “Next Gen Stat” that weighs the difficulty of a catch against multiple factors. Ross, who saw limited action against the Lions, stood out with a +25.8 percent mark, which took second place to Valdes-Scantling, who led the team with a +34.9 CROE.
After those two, though, Kansas City’s receiving corps only graded out in the negatives. Justin Watson had a respectable showing, and his negative mark in this category doesn’t necessarily tell the tale of his performance.
Richie James and Rashee Rice were also negative by this metric but saw limited targets in the game.
Clearly, Toney and Moore had no business being on the field in this game, if this statistic is to be seen as an indicator of ability or efficiency. They’ll both look to flush their performance and get after the Jacksonville Jaguars next week.
