Let’s Argue: Skyy Moore will have a better second half of the season

Our Mark Gunnels takes on all your hot takes, wacky predictions and unpopular opinions.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Let’s Argue, which is a recurring series that looks at hot takes, unpopular opinions, wacky predictions and more from Kansas City Chiefs fans.

The 2023 team is the best of the Patrick Mahomes era.

This is a complex argument to make because you have two extremes with this Kansas City Chiefs team. On one side, you clearly have the best defense of the Mahomes era. Conversely, you clearly have the worst offense of the Mahomes era.

So, how do you genuinely measure these two extremes when compared to other teams during the Mahomes run? This team has to finish the deal by winning a Super Bowl. That would put this season’s team in the conversation.

For the sake of discussion, let’s go ahead and assume they were to hoist another Lombardi. At that point, I think you have to say this is the most complete team we’ve seen in the Mahomes era. We already praised how good this defense is, and I believe in order to win it all, this offense will still have to improve, especially in the red zone.

Hopefully, this is a topic we can revisit in February.

Skyy Moore will be better in the second half of the season.

Skyy Moore can only go up from here, right?

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more maligned player on this roster than Moore. OK, maybe Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but you get the point.

Through nine games, Moore has totaled 16 catches for 201 yards with one touchdown. Moore’s rookie campaign left very little to be impressed by, but he got somewhat of a pass because it’s well-known that rookie receivers typically struggle in Andy Reid’s system. Having said that, we’re seeing Rashee Rice produce as a rookie. He has double the catches and touchdowns as Moore does thus far.

To be fair, this isn’t all on Moore. The assumption before the year was that he would live in the slot. Well, that simply hasn’t been the case. The aforementioned Rice has taken advantage of those slot snaps to the point where it’s hard to switch things up.

This is unfortunate for Moore. His skill set simply isn’t made for winning on the outside consistently. I’m still very bullish on Moore, and considering he was a second-round pick, I believe this coaching staff will do everything in their power to put him in a position to succeed.

The Chiefs should prioritize paying for a receiver rather than another Chris Jones contract.

This is a pretty controversial take, but I can see the thinking. Without All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, this is probably a middle-of-the-pack defense. And before this season, when Kansas City is typically the top offense in the league, the general thought was this defense just has to be average. It’s easy to laugh at that notion now because if the defense was average, the Chiefs definitely wouldn’t be sitting atop the AFC with a 7-2 record.

The offense has been inconsistent, to say the least. It’s only averaging 23.1 points per game, compared to 29.2 just a season ago. Travis Kelce is still Travis Kelce, but they aren’t getting much production outside of him. The blame goes from coach Reid to Matt Nagy to Patrick Mahomes to the offensive line.

In most eyes, the biggest culprit is the receiver room. Who’s to say this offense doesn’t explode with a true No. 1? Remember that guy named Tyreek Hill?

When evaluating the upcoming free agent class, the only proven No. 1 receiver is Mike Evans. Then, you have guys like Tee Higgins, Calvin Ridley and Hollywood Brown, who all have the potential to be a No. 1.

It will be interesting to see how general manager Brett Veach tackles the position in the off-season.

Kadarius Toney is getting the “Jerick McKinnon” treatment.

Many were led to believe Kadarius Toney would be the No. 1 receiver this season. Toney instantly showed flashes of his potential after the Chiefs traded for the former first-round pick.

It’s easy to see Toney’s raw talent, but staying healthy has been an incredible challenge. Reid is just hoping to get the former Florida Gator through the season healthy.

“We’ll just keep coming with him,” Reid said. “I just want to remind everyone that he did have knee surgery, so we’re taking it easy with him up to this point, and just making sure he makes it through the year and in good health.”

I don’t think increasing Toney’s usage will solve all the problems, but it certainly won’t hurt. You can objectively say he’s the most dynamic receiver on this team with the ball in his hands.