JUST NI: What role does Skyy Moore still have with the Kansas City Chiefs?
What role does Skyy Moore still have with the Kansas City Chiefs?
On Monday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the
New Orleans Saints 26–13 to maintain their perfect record.
Several wide receivers filled in for star wide receiver Rashee Rice,
who suffered a season-ending injury.
The Chiefs’ offense finally appeared to be clicking as Patrick Mahomes
threw for over 300 yards for the first time this NFL season,
thanks to the heroics of veteran wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster
and a little help from rookie Xavier Worthy and Mecole Hardman.
Third-year wide receiver Skyy Moore is one guy who continues to
perform poorly despite the victory.
Moore just finished a very disappointing sophomore campaign in which
he was anticipated to play a much bigger part.
It was reasonable to anticipate that Moore would fill in for
Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice.
Kansas City needed Moore to demonstrate something to reassure us
that they have enough wide outs to play without their two best players,
considering there are only five healthy wide receivers on the roster.
As an alternative, Moore hasn’t recorded a catch this season,
and the only play from him in Kansas City’s
victory on Monday night was a botched kick return that almost proved disastrous.
This occurs only one week after Moore dropped a pass that struck him squarely in the hands
while being targeted on a pivotal third down against the Los Angeles Chargers.
All of this raises the question: Why is Skyy Moore still on the roster if he isn’t a
valuable receiver or even a special team member despite all of his injuries?
The excuses that a player such as Moore may have received for
ever making the team were “you spent a second-round pick on him,”
“he’s WR6, he’ll never play anyway,” or “he’s cheap and on a rookie deal.”
But those are getting to the point where Moore’s continued presence is no longer warranted,
and his poor performance has made some wonder if he can truly hold a position
on a team that hopes to win a third consecutive Super Bowl.
Firstly, Moore ought to be playable regardless of where he is listed on the depth chart.
It should be expected of every player on the depth chart to contribute in some way when called upon.
Moore isn’t able to live up to the lowest conceivable standard for a player on an NFL roster.
Even as a WR6, Moore is not a good deep threat.
Given what we saw from this wide receiving corps last season, when Kansas City
was rotating every single receiver in and out in an attempt to find solutions,
it is foolish and irresponsible to assume that someone would “never play”
because of how low they are on the pecking order.
Moore is playing this season out of necessity owing to injuries, disproving the
“Who cares? The reasoning goes, “He’s WR6,
and he’ll never see the field.” That player will inevitably be needed in a situation.
The other aspect of this problem is that, naturally, Moore has nothing to contribute.
Even though he hasn’t played much this season,
he has managed to negatively impact Kansas City’s
performance on the field in the little time he has.
This is more than merely Moore’s inconsistent
play or poor performance in comparison to his draft ranking.
He is essentially doing nothing to assist the team in this situation.
Once more, considering all of the injuries that have occurred,
we should at the very least expect Moore to be able to fill in and catch a few passes,
but he isn’t doing either. If he can’t even slightly improve the severely
depleted position group in which he is occupying a spot on the roster,
we begin to question why he is still here.
Saying that Moore has “good depth” just because he’s inexpensive
and young seems to be ignoring the reality that he is not a player.
The idea that Moore shouldn’t be on the club, not even as a reserve player,
is further supported by instances like the Chargers game where
Moore failed to convert on a wide-open ball to his lone target this season.
In those scenarios, you need people to step up when injuries have taken a toll.
Because general manager Brett Veach wants to
get as much usage as possible out of his high selection pick,
these roster places shouldn’t be viewed as disposable.
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