Chiefs' New Receiving Weapons Film Room
Let's dive into the Film Room to break down how the Chiefs' newest weapons can impact the passing game.
The Chiefs entered the 2025 NFL Draft in an awkward spot with their receiving core. On the surface they have a decently full room with young building blocks in Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice. They have veterans who should be able to fill a specific role in Hollywood Brown, Travis Kelce, and Noah Gray. They had invested a decent amount of draft capital into the group in recent years but there was still a hint of uncertainty across the board.
Travis Kelce had been flirting with retirement but decided to return for one more season. Hollywood Brown returned on a single year deal after missing the majority of the 2024 season. Rashee Rice is coming off of a season-ending knee injury and still has some concerns off the field that could impact his availability. Jared Wiley — a 2024 draft pick — suffered his own season ending injury. Capping off all of the uncertainty, the Chiefs’ second leading snap earner in 2024 left in free agency as Justin Watson signed with the Houston Texans.
This takes us to the 2025 NFL Draft in which the Chiefs had to make a choice to rely on foundation they had set both in the present and for the future, or to continue flooding the room with weapons to ensure the bottom can’t fall out amidst the uncertainly. To their credit, the Chiefs found a way to do a little bit both without having to invest overly high in terms of draft capital.
The Chiefs left the actual draft with a single receiving weapon — excluding Brashard Smith a very capable receiver out of the backfield - but added some interesting names in the Undrafted Free Agency period. For this Film Room we are going to cover the three biggest names added to the Chiefs’ passing offense: Jalen Royals, Elijhah Badger, and Jake Briningstool.
Receiving Weapons Film Room
A video breakdown of both Royals and Badger can be seen above and below we’ll continue to highlight how each of these players could potentially fit with the Chiefs' passing attack moving forward.
Jalen Royals
WR | Utah State | 6’ 205lbs
Royals is almost identical to Rashee Rice in a lot of ways coming out of college which makes his fit with the Chiefs both easy to find but a little complicated. Similar to Rice, he’s at his best with the ball in hands and creating RAC (yards after the catch). He was frequently used on screens, crossing routes, and spot routes over the middle of the field so he can get the ball then work his way through traffic.