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Skyy Moore was the ninth-fastest wide receiver at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine. Drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round after they traded Tyreek Hill, there was hope that he could become a WR1.
Those dreams never came to fruition. Moore only had one pass thrown his way in the first three games of the season. He was relegated behind four receivers on the depth chart. He was tried as a punt returner, but he muffed three punts by Week 12 before the Chiefs gave up on that fumbled experiment.
Now that JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman have joined new teams in free agency, new receivers will have to step up for the Chiefs. Will this be the year Skyy Moore becomes a WR1?
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What Did Head Coach Andy Reid Say About Skyy Moore?
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “We are expecting Skyy Moore to step up."
He pointed out that in terms of volume, the Chiefs really only lost one wide receiver in free agency: JuJu. "We got the same guys coming back that we had, and we like that group with the exception of JuJu. Mecole [Hardman] was banged up a little bit so he didn’t have a chance to play as much as he would have wanted," Reid said.
He's right about Hardman. The speedster missed the entire second half of the season with an abdominal injury and came back in the AFC Championship Game only to aggravate his injury. In the end, Hardman finished the season with almost the same numbers as Moore.
Could Skyy Moore Be the Chiefs' WR1 In 2023?
In his rookie year, Moore was targeted 33 times for 22 catches. He gained 267 yards in the regular season and playoffs and scored his first touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Early on, Moore was underutilized on offense. He only played 10 offensive snaps in Weeks 2 and 3. His snap totals increased as the season went on but still only topped out at 46% of the snaps in Week 12.
| Skyy Moore, 2022 | Targets | Rec | Yards | TDs |
| Weeks 1-9 | 14 | 7 | 106 | 0 |
| Weeks 10-18 | 19 | 15 | 144 | 0 |
| Playoffs | 9 | 5 | 17 | 1 |
Marquez Valdes-Scantling led all the Chiefs' returning wide receivers in targets (81), receptions (42), and yards (687) last year. Travis Kelce led the team by a wide margin in each category. Running back Jerick McKinnon, who is now a free agent, also had more catches than MVS. Backup tight end Noah Gray had more catches than Moore.
But MVS put up those numbers while playing 777 snaps, 2.48 times as many as Moore. Moore had a higher catch rate, better PFF grades, and more yards per route run than MVS.
If you assume Skyy Moore plays at least 600 offensive snaps --a fair assumption if he maintains a top-three WR spot-- and he produces at the same rate as he did last season, the youngster would be expected to catch about 45-50 passes for 500-600 yards. That's around what Alec Pierce and Noah Brown did last season. While those players had a few quality games, they were not weekly plug-and-play starters.
The Chiefs are hoping Moore steps up not only in playing time but in his efficiency as well. It is possible. Some players take time to adjust to the NFL. Skyy Moore could be a value at ADP, and he could spike when Kadarius Toney and possibly MVS are injured.
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