After a bad performance against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11, the NFL community is trying to find ways to help upgrade the Kansas City Chiefs’ receiver room post-trade deadline.
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso took a stab at trying to solve Kansas City’s receiver problem and suggested the team elevate a player who’s been trying to make a name for himself since 2021:
Cornell Powell.
“My suggestion besides more JUGS machine work for the Chiefs receiver and tight end rooms — an elevation of practice squad wideout Cornell Powell, the strapping perimeter wideout Kansas City selected in the fifth round out of Clemson in 2021,” Trapasso wrote on November 24. “He has just one drop in six career preseason outings and a mere four drops on 118 targets against five seasons in college (which equates to a tiny 4.8% drop rate).
“And Powell has run two — yes, two! — routes in a regular-season game at the NFL level. Give him a chance, Andy! Before Week 12’s game against the Raiders! Do it.”
Cornell Powell Highlights KC’s Desperation
Powell, 26, has yet to do enough during his time in Kansas City to merit being active on game day, let alone be a part of the game plan in any capacity. That’s why Powell being mentioned as a potential fix for the receiving room’s issues displays how desperate the unit is through 11 weeks of the regular season.
Outside of tight end Travis Kelce, Kansas City’s leading receiver is rookie second-round pick Rashee Rice, who has 36 receptions on 46 targets for 420 yards and 4 touchdowns, per ESPN. Second is Justin Watson with 19 catches on 36 targets for 329 yards and 1 touchdown. Those are mediocre receiving numbers for a team with championship aspirations in back-to-back seasons. Not to mention the fact that the Chiefs are leading the NFL with 26 dropped passes this season.
“We’ve been dealing with a good amount of guys here that are all great players that want to do well and succeed, and when you have a game like we did last night where there might be a little bit of a magnifying glass – whether it’s some of the drops, whether it’s a specific play it can be a little bit bigger than others it can definitely be a big deal, we understand that and the players understand that,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said after Kansas City’s 21-17 loss to the Eagles in which Kansas City registered 8 drops on Monday Night Football.
“In the end, we have a lot of trust in these guys, and we believe in them. I think that’s very very important,” Nagy continued.
Chiefs Turning Attention Toward Raiders
After a tough loss in primetime in Week 11, the Chiefs are now turning their attention to a road divisional game against the Las Vegas Raiders, who are 2-1 under interim head coach Antonio Pierce.
Speaking to the media on November 22, quarterback Patrick Mahomes shared his assessment of the Raiders since Pierce became the interim head coach.
“I mean they play hard. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Mahomes explained. “(Raiders Interim Head) Coach (Antonio) Pierce is a great coach who was a great player, and he has a mindset and I think you can see that throughout the entire team. They’ve got a lot of guys that love football. I mean it starts with (Raiders DE) Maxx (Crosby), but (Raiders OLB Robert) Spillane. All those guys that are out there, they’re playing hard and flying around every single snap.”
The Chiefs-Raiders game will take place at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, November 26 at 3:25 p.m. Central time.
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Analyst Calls for Chiefs WR’s Promotion: ‘Make It Happen, Andy!”