Skyy Moore’s Second-Year Jump Is Inevitable

Looking back on the Kansas City Chiefs' 2022 NFL Draft, the selection of Skyy Moore may be the most controversial pick of the bunch. It’s not that Moore isn’t a good wide receiver or that he can’t turn into a solid pro player, but it was the first time that general manager Brett Veach traded down in a draft.

The Chiefs had the 50th pick but when their name was supposed to show up on the screen, it was the New England Patriots that were on the clock instead. The Chiefs were able to get back pick 54, just a few spots later, and pick 145. Three of the four players drafted between pick 50 and 53, before the Chiefs were able to use their new selection, were wide receivers.

Tyquan Thornton was selected by the Patriots, George Pickens was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Alec Pierce was taken by the Indianapolis Colts. Then it was the Chiefs' turn, and they selected Moore at 54. Whether it’s fair or not, Moore will likely always be compared to these other three receivers during his career and the pick will be examined under a microscope.

Coming out of college, there was high praise for Moore — especially in the analytics community. He was viewed as a smaller receiver, standing at just under 5-foot-10 and weighing 195 pounds, but he had incredible route-running skills, great run-after-the-catch ability and great hands. Moore only dropped three passes on 125 targets during his final collegiate season and had the largest hands of any wide receiver at the combine. His 26 broken tackles tied for most among eligible receivers as well. All of these stats led to him being the highest-graded wide receiver by Pro Football Focus in the 2022 draft class.

Even with all of this, things didn’t get off to a great start during Moore’s rookie year. During the first half of the season, Moore had six catches in eight games. Of those eight games, he didn’t get a catch in four of them and had zero targets in three. Things didn't go so well for him as a punt returner either, as he had multiple muffed punts in a loss to the Colts. The woes continued and Moore ended up being taken off punt return duties.

During the second half of the season, Moore was able to get more involved in the receiving game at times. He had back-to-back five-catch games to end the month of November, with his season high of 63 yards coming in a 30-27 win at the Los Angeles Chargers. There were still games down the stretch where Moore disappeared, having three outings in December and January where he didn’t record a catch. He finished the regular season with 22 catches for 250 yards and was held without a touchdown.

Moore was able to get some redemption in the postseason. In the AFC Championship Game, with wide receivers getting injured left and right, Moore was able to see an increased amount of playing time and was also tasked to field a season-defining punt return late. He hadn’t returned one since he muffed a punt against the Los Angeles Rams at the end of November. His key punt return against the Cincinnati Bengals put the Chiefs in position to kick a game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the game and get to the Super Bowl.