For now, the Kansas City Chiefs have what they have at the receiver position. They still await news on Rashee Rice after his tough injury. And they’re rumored to be in the mix for others. But with a Monday night game on tap against the Saints, here are our Chiefs Week 5 bold predictions ahead of the Chiefs-Saints game.
Despite its injury woes, the Chiefs are still undefeated at 4-0. Meanwhile, the Saints, who looked like world beaters early, limp in with a record of 2-2.
Leading the way for our bold predictions will be, who else, the Chiefs superstar quarterback.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes will throw two TD passes to Travis Kelce
Normally this might not be a bold prediction, but look how Kelce is playing this season. Compared to his career credentials, he appears to be a guy with one foot in Taylor Swift-fueled retirement. In four games, he has just 15 catches for 158 yards. If you’re curious, that’s a pace for 672 yards. That would leave him around half of the yardage totals of his three of his top seasons. Not good.
But this is a great spot for Kelce to shine. The Chiefs won’t have Rice this week, or maybe at all for the rest of the season. And there’s not a lot of production to find elsewhere. Look for Mahomes to pepper Kelce with targets, and look for Kelce to finally display a little bit of fire that seems to have been lacking to this point.
But here is what Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had to say about the receivers Mahomes has to choose from, other than Kelce. The spotlight could fall on Xavier Worthy, according to the Chiefs YouTube via arrowheadpride.com.
“We’ll see how he does,” Reid said. “We’ve got guys here that have experienced the playing of the game. It’s not that he’s the only one, doesn’t have to be the only one. So, we’ve got, got a good group of guys there that we, we, we can utilize and, you know, we, we normally spread the ball around and, and that’s what we’ll continue to strive to do.”
What are possible solutions for Chiefs?
But there’s also newcomer JuJu Smith-Schuster.
“I think he’s played quite a bit up to this point,” Reid said. “And I think he’s in good shape… Pat’s got a lot of trust in him, and he’s still a good football player.”
And Skyy Moore is still in the mix.
“Sky is a good football player,” Reid said. “He’s given us some good downs. He had the one drop yesterday on the third down. He knows he has to make it, but he’s given us some good downs over these four games. So we’re OK.”
Yes, all of those add up to more Kelce in the game plan. Mahomes said he’s ready to go back to the ground floor, according to marca.com.
“All we can do now is go back to the basics and try to get guys opportunities to succeed,” Mahomes said. “The guys stepped up and filled in as good as they can the role that Rice has in our offense, which is a big one.”
RB Kareem Hunt will score his first Chiefs TD since 2018
It has been a long journey for Hunt getting back to Kansas City. He looked good in his first game, carrying 14 times for 69 yards. Look for the Chiefs to find a way to get him into the end zone this week.
Hunt didn’t practice in full until Saturday, but that’s likely enough to make him good to go. This will be his first game at Arrowhead Stadium since his return to the team. A video of Hunt kicking and shoving a woman led to his release by the Chiefs back in 2018. He resurfaced with the Browns and played 64 games, serving as part of a one-two punch with Nick Chubb.
Reid said Hunt looked good in his first game, according to kansascity.com.
“He did well,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I thought he was pretty accurate with the holes that he it. I think we all have a lot of trust in Kareem since he’d been here and we know how he’s wired. He’s been able to pick up stuff pretty quick.”
Hunt said it’s not like starting over.
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“Everything’s the exact same from when I left,” Hunt said while standing in the Chiefs’ locker room Saturday. “It felt good to get back here, play football and be around guys I love and care about.”
And Hunt said he’s looking forward to scoring in a Chiefs uniform.
“I’ve been thinking about that since I got here,” Hunt said. “I’ll be excited.”
Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy will score a 40-plus yard TD
The Chiefs have a nice weapon in their rookie. He’s a threat to score on any given week. He just likely won’t do it very often. This looks like a good spot to get into the end zone mix. Saints head coach Dennis Allen said it’s a tireless chore, starting with Kelce, according to neworleanssaints.com.
“They move him around a lot,” Allen said of Kelce. “When you watch tape he's in a ton of different spots. They put him outside at No. 1, they put him inside in the slot, they put him at No. 3, they put him in the backfield – they do a lot of different stuff with him. So I would expect to see him continue to move around.”
And guarding receivers like Worthy doesn’t stop until the whistle blows, Allen said.
“You've got to cover them twice,” Allen said. “We've got to cover the first route, and then we've got to be able to cover the second route. And then when we have an opportunity to get the quarterback on the ground, we need to be able to get the quarterback on the ground. It's much harder to throw the ball from laying on the ground than when he's able to stay on his feet.”
