After DeAndre Hopkins decided to sign with the Titans instead of waiting for the Chiefs, Kansas City can go a different direction at wide receiver.
The DeAndre Hopkins saga is over. After much speculation, the former All-Pro is now set to be a Titan.
Where does that leave a suitor like the Chiefs?
There's a good reason Kansas City was linked over and over the Hopkins, who would have been a No. 1 option in a Chiefs receiving corps full of uncertainty. His decision to sign with Tennessee leaves Andy Reid and company with some tricky decisions to make.
No. 3 backup plan for the Chiefs after missing on DeAndre Hopkins: Stay put
To start with, the Chiefs may be content going through training camp with the unproven group currently on the roster.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling leads a corps that also includes last year's trade pick up Kadarius Toney, 2022 second-round draft pick Skyy Moore and 2023 second-round pick Rashee Rice, along with a host of bodies with limited or no pro experience or production.
Last year, the Chiefs got by with a sort of wide receiver by committee. Travis Kelce led the team in receiving while the combination of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Valdes-Scantling and a host of others filled in the rest.
Smith-Schuster is gone but high hopes for Moore, Toney and Rice could justify those three existing targets replacing his 78 receptions, 933 yards and three touchdowns without needing any new additions.
Hopkins was a special opportunity for the Chiefs. There is no true alternative, so don't missing on him may mean staying put and keeping an eye out for the next special opportunity that arises.
No. 2 Chiefs backup plan after missing on DeAndre Hopkins: Sammy Watkins
There are still a few veteran wide receivers out there for the Chiefs to pursue, even though none are as enticing as Hopkins. Julio Jones, Kenny Golladay, N'Keal Harry and Sammy Watkins all carry the same risk, of course. Do they add real value at this stage?
Kansas City could add any of those players but let's look specifically at what Watkins may have to bring.
Watkins spent the 2022 season with the Packers and Ravens, totalling 16 catches and 325 yards in 12 games.
That's not much in the way of production, but that's more than all but two of the receivers currently on the Chiefs roster had last year — Marques Valdes-Scantling had 687 while Richie James totalled 569 yards with the Giants.
Watkins is capable of more than that, as Kansas City already knows. Even if his three years with the team were hit-and-miss, he had no fewer than 37 catches or 421 yards in those seasons.
The Chiefs could use a veteran pass catcher who won't break the bank and Watkins needs somewhere to extend his career.
Having said that, he's not the best option on the free agent market…
No. 1 Chiefs backup plan after missing on DeAndre Hopkins: Jarvis Landry
If the Chiefs wanted to get as close to the potential impact of DeAndre Hopkins by acquiring a receiver still on the free agent market, the answer is Jarvis Landry.
His numbers with the Saints last year weren't particularly impressive. He caught 25 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown. However, he did that in only nine games while dealing with a nagging ankle injury. Remember how Sammy Watkins modest production from 2022 still outdid most of the Chiefs current options? The same applies to Landry.
Going after Landry comes with the risk of investing in a player who could never get over the injury struggles. Still, he wouldn't be so expensive that it wouldn't be worth the try.
It wasn't so long ago that Landry was a perenial Pro Bowler with multiple 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. No one on the Chiefs roster at wide receiver has reached those heights.
KC was reportedly interested in Landry last year before he signed with the Saints. Circling back to that idea now would make a whole lot of sense.
So what will the Chiefs do at wide receiver? They have the early stages of training camp to get a better look at what they already have and what gaps they need to fill with outside options. The veteran free agents are out there. The hard part is deciding whether the youngsters can get the job done themselves.
