How did Skyy Moore fall to us?

[Direckshun]

Largely size concerns, it seems:

The 2022 NFL Draft was another strong year for wide receiver talent, and many assumed that a run on wide receivers would happen in the first round. That panned out with the Falcons taking Drake London at No. 8 and three other receivers were taken over the next four picks. The levee breaking on wideouts led to Jahan Dotson ending up as the 16th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, and some analysts thought Western Michigan's Skyy Moore would go late in the first round thanks to the run on receivers.

Moore was superb throughout 2021, hauling in 95 passes for 1,292 yards and 10 touchdowns. The junior also worked out well before the 2022 NFL Draft. Hence, there were some projecting him to the opening night of the draft, so some were surprised when he slid to late in the second round.

NFL team sources actually had Moore graded lower than the media hype. Some teams had him graded in the second round and others had him in Round 3. They saw some limitations with his size and thought Moore (5-10, 196) could have problems with longer cornerbacks as a pro. Thus, teams did not see a real slide with Moore.

The Kansas City Chiefs ended Moore's slide, and they are a mixed landing spot for him. On the plus side, Moore landed with an elite quarterback in Pat Mahomes and a great coaching staff led by future Hall of Fame Andy Reid. On the negative side, Moore is in a crowded depth chart, as the Chiefs have established veterans like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman and Josh Gordon. Due to the a second-round pick investment in him, Moore is assured of making the roster, but he could have a hard time breaking out in an offense that spreads the ball around and features tight end Travis Kelce. Moore will have to earn his playing time, but if he can break through to a starting job, he could turn into a very productive pro operating with Mahomes and Reid.

[AdolfOliverBush]

Yeah, let's hope Josh Gordon's presence on the roster isn't too big a hurdle for Moore to overcome.

[The Franchise]

On the negative side, Moore is in a crowded depth chart, as the Chiefs have established veterans like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman and Josh Gordon.

What is this garbage? Crowded depth chart? Hardman is a gadget player on his last year. MVS is basically a deep threat. Gordon is nothing.

[DJ's left nut]

NFL team sources actually had Moore graded lower than the media hype. Some teams had him graded in the second round and others had him in Round 3. They saw some limitations with his size and thought Moore (5-10, 196) could have problems with longer cornerbacks as a pro. Thus, teams did not see a real slide with Moore.

Huh.

Y'don't say?

Again - pay attention to what they do, not what they say. If Veach saw Skyy Moore the way his most ardent supporters see him, there's no way he trades back from 50 and risks losing him.

I suspect Veach also saw him as a late 2nd, early 3rd caliber player in an ordinary draft. He also seemed to believe that he was at the end of a tier and that the market had pushed WR talent up.

Guess we'll find out...

[tmax63]

Contrary to the belief, not everyone in the NFL sports world thinks KC's receivers are as big a pile of dogshit as the people here do. World beaters no but not nearly as bad as someone would think after reading the opinions around here.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by tmax63

Contrary to the belief, not everyone in the NFL sports world thinks KC's receivers are as big a pile of dogshit as the people here do. World beaters no but not nearly as bad as someone would think after reading the opinions around here.

I don't think they're dogshit by any means....but to say that Moore doesn't have a spot because of a guy like Josh Gordon? That's a pretty asinine take.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I don't think they're dogshit by any means....but to say that Moore doesn't have a spot because of a guy like Josh Gordon? That's a pretty asinine take.

Yeah, bringing up Gordon there was silly. Dude isn’t even a JAG anymore

[Bump]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Yeah, bringing up Gordon there was silly. Dude isn’t even a JAG anymore

his 0.2 catches per game will be hard for a rookie to compete with!

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Yeah, bringing up Gordon there was silly. Dude isn’t even a JAG anymore

Is that the proper nomenclature?

Since JAG = "just a guy", saying someone is "a just a guy" doesn't seem to make any linguistic sense.

Josh Gordon isn't even JAG anymore seems like the wording to me, but WTF do i know?

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

Is that the proper nomenclature?

Since JAG = "just a guy", saying someone is "a just a guy" doesn't seem to make any linguistic sense.

Josh Gordon isn't even JAG anymore seems like the wording to me, but WTF do i know?

I've always wondered the same thing.

[RunKC]

He played at a smaller school and wasn’t 6+ ft with a huge wingspan.

I’d still take him over Pickens today. I just saw too much of the raw game from Pickens that I saw in Conley and Hardman. Cool he’s big and has good hands. But his route running is not there and he’s a long strider who probably won’t have great lateral speed.

I think Veach knew we had Juju and MVS as our big bodied receivers but needed to get a fundamental reliable player who can sell routes and catch the ball. Especially against cover 2 shell.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

He played at a smaller school and wasn’t 6+ ft with a huge wingspan.

I’d still take him over Pickens today. I just saw too much of the raw game from Pickens that I saw in Conley and Hardman. Cool he’s big and has good hands. But his route running is not there and he’s a long strider who probably won’t have great lateral speed.

I think Veach knew we had Juju and MVS as our big bodied receivers but needed to get a fundamental reliable player who can sell routes and catch the ball. Especially against cover 2 shell.

I actually thought that from a technical perspective Pickens was a MORE polished route-runner than Moore.

Moore just has faster feet and was beating significantly inferior DBs.

I understand shying away from Pickens due to the attitude and even productivity concerns. But froma pure tools standpoint, I didn't see anything that Pickens lacked. I mean if you're going to shy away from Pickens because of a lack of lateral agility, then you're just taking any WR over 6'1'' off your board because he was certainly no worse than any other WR in this draft with plus size when it came to that sort of movement.

Pickens problem is between his ears but from a pure talent perspective, he's as intriguing as anyone in this draft, including a healthy Jameson Williams.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I actually thought that from a technical perspective Pickens was a MORE polished route-runner than Moore.

Moore just has faster feet and was beating significantly inferior DBs.

I understand shying away from Pickens due to the attitude and even productivity concerns. But froma pure tools standpoint, I didn't see anything that Pickens lacked. I mean if you're going to shy away from Pickens because of a lack of lateral agility, then you're just taking any WR over 6'1'' off your board because he was certainly no worse than any other WR in this draft with plus size when it came to that sort of movement.

Pickens problem is between his ears but from a pure talent perspective, he's as intriguing as anyone in this draft, including a healthy Jameson Williams.

Maybe. I liked Pickens because he just does something better than anyone we've had in awhile - namely getting late separation. He wins at the opposite, and more valuable, end of the route to Moore. But I also don't know that translates more reliably.

So it depends what you think "better route runner" means. If shiftiness to gain early separation is it, Moore is better, for me. If it's subtle physicality late in the route to gain sepatation, Pickens is your guy.

But if the question is Pickens tools - speed is not his strength. He can get late separation but he also needs to, because he's never burning anyone. He's also absolutely not as elusive a runner as Moore is. Obviously he'd never be used that way, but I guess that's the point. Moore might not have the high end, deep catches, but he can get you yards from anywhere.

[staylor26]

@ taking anything from Walter Football as gospel

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by staylor26

@ taking anything from Walter Football as gospel

15+ years ago when year-round NFL Draft analysis and resources were far harder to come by, yeah, Walter Football was one such thing you could use if you absolutely needed a fix. But even then, I think people knew what they were getting was pretty much crap.

Today there are any number of dudes just like Walter Football who do a better job, and their mock drafts are way better thought out than "Well, it's a positional need." Hell, half the time Walter is inaccurate about what actual team personnel needs are because he just doesn't pay attention to the NFL in the regular season enough.