First Marquise Brown, then Rashee Rice, and now JuJu Smith-Schuster. Of course, Smith-Schuster’s hamstring injury shouldn’t hold him out for the rest of the year like Rice and Brown’s injuries are, but he could be set to miss an extended amount of time after re-aggravating the same issue that popped up this past week in practice. He’s already been ruled out for this weekend’s game against the Raiders, and it’s fair to question whether he’ll be available in Week 9, as well, at this point. With JuJu out of the lineup this past weekend, rookie WR Xavier Worthy stepped up to lead the team in targets from Patrick Mahomes – but it was Kareem Hunt and the ground game that stole the show from a production standpoint. As the receiving room depth continues to dwindle, the Chiefs will likely rely more and more on the run game – which, in turn, could mean more tight ends on the field. TE Noah Gray played just eight fewer snaps than Travis Kelce in this game while earning a higher targets per route run from Patrick Mahomes. With Worthy being the only high-profile WR left standing thanks to injuries to the rest of the Chiefs’ receivers, the production will likely catch up at some point to what should be further increased opportunity in the coming weeks. He’ll profile as a WR3 moving forward with upside.
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