WR Xavier Hutchinson, Iowa State
Maaaaaaan, I feel like I like Xavier Hutchinson more than I should, but let me make my case. First,
it seems increasingly clear to me that the cap is going to crunch the team a bit more this offseason than most, and I don't think they can go back to the well of simply restructuring QB Patrick Mahomes. They don't want a year where they're forced into paying Mahomes $70m against the cap because they kept restructuring, because he is only going to get better and they
really don't want a year in there where they can't surround him with talent. So tough decisions are on the horizon, and I'm increasingly convinced that WR Juju Smith-Schuster is a really good player who the Chiefs won't retain.
That's a problem, too, because he was a target in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl that this team needed more than anything. So you need yourself someone with the upside to replicate that, which is what Hutchinson can deliver. He is one of the most statistically accomplished, consistent, game-tape-proven receivers in America. For a team that will ask receivers to do everything under the sun, Hutchinson has three years of game tape proving he can excel. He can create separation, he can block, he can win jump balls, he can play the boundary. I'm not a Bengals fan, but with them getting ready to let WR Tee Higgins go, Hutchinson feels to me like a guy with his exact skillset. He screams "Bengals receiver": He's big, he's got great hands, and he can win the YOLO balls.
As a bigger X-receiver, he lacks a lot of the dynamism that HC Andy Reid craves, and therefore may not make as much sense for the Chiefs tendencies as, say, WR Zay Flowers or WR Tyler Scott. But man, what if there's a run on receivers in the 1st and 2nd? You're sitting there in the 2nd round, maybe you spent a 1st on passrusher, and you're needing a weapon who is reliable enough to get the tough yards and earned catches in the 4th quarter of a future Super Bowl? Xavier Hutchinson makes sense to me. I don't see anybody listing this guy as a 2nd round prospect, so I know I'm an outlier here, but I really like this guy.