Andy Reid Reveals One Player Who Must ‘Step Up’ For Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is no stranger to having to make adjustments year in and year out. To remain as dominant as them requires some changes to be made to stay ahead of their opponents. In 2022, Andy Reid did an excellent job of adjusting the offensive game plan.

Kansas City made a major change to their offense in 2022 as they traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins. Hill is one of the most dynamic wide receivers in the NFL and many people questioned whether trading him would be the start of the end for the Chiefs. Those doubters were quickly proven wrong.

Patrick Mahomes put together an MVP season despite losing an All-Pro. Part of the reason for that success was the game plan that Andy Reid and his staff were able to put together with the new pieces in the offense.

JuJu Smith-Schuster had a nice bounce-back coming over from the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, he signed only a one-year deal and moved on in free agency this year, agreeing to a three-year contract with the New England Patriots.

Mecole Hardman was another useful piece of the offense in 2022 before he was injured. He scored six touchdowns in eight games but also moved on this offseason, signing a deal with the New York Jets in free agency.

With Justin Watson also a free agent, Andy Reid will once again have to make some adjustments to the game plan offensively. He seemingly already has an idea in place of what to do. For that plan to succeed, the Chiefs are going to need Skyy Moore to step up in 2023.

“We are expecting Skyy Moore to step up,” Andy Reid said. “We’ll just see how everything else works. We got the same guys coming back that we had, and we like that group with the exception of JuJu. Mecole was banged up a little bit so he didn’t have a chance to play as much as he would have wanted. We’ll work out the thing without JuJu. Somebody will have to step up and take that spot.”

Moore was a second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Western Michigan. He appeared in 16 games for the team in the regular season but he didn’t have too big of a role. Moore was on the field for only 29 percent of the offensive snaps, recording 25 touches for 274 scoreless yards.

With Smith-Schuster and Hardman no longer in the fold, Moore’s role will certainly expand in 2023. There are a lot of targets available and a large chunk of them will go toward Moore and Kadarius Toney, who was acquired last year ahead of the deadline from the New York Giants.

Andy Reid will be relying on younger players than he is used to in recent seasons, but they do possess a lot of upside. If anyone can get the most out of them it is him as one of the best offensive minds in the league.