The Chiefs’ new offense will look different — and it’s in full swing

The beginning of 2022 saw more changes to the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive unit than we’ve typically seen in recent offseasons — and according to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, general manager Brett Veach brought in some good players to replace the late wide receiver Tyreek Hill to replace Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson.

“These guys are smart,” Mahomes told reporters after Thursday’s OTA session at the Chiefs’ training facility. “This is a big thing for me. Marquez [Valdes-Scantling]whoops [Smith-Schuster]Corey Coleman – all these new people we have in the building – are smart, they work hard and they want to keep up.

“It’s a very deep reception room; It’s hard to say which guys will make it because there are so many good receivers. That’s what you want. You want this competition.”

Head coach Andy Reid is also happy with the new group of wideouts.

“I like what I see,” he said. “Big boys. They can walk and play physically. There’s no bump and run, so they didn’t have to answer that part. But they are big, strong boys. I like it [in] what I see. Again, I think it’s important that the more reps we can get with them and Pat, I think that helps.”

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Reid said he could already see the benefit of the time Mahomes was spending with all the new receivers at his offseason training base in Texas.

“You can see the time he worked with the guys in Texas dragged on,” Reid said. “He was able to hit the base routes. They’ve put together a bit of the routes – but some of the new stuff Pat is working through with them. It was good. I mean, we had better execution than you’d think for a bunch of new people put together.

Mahomes said the Texas workouts did a lot to get everyone on the same page.

“We brought in some chemistry,” he told reporters. “Just being with these guys for almost a month, training with them, throwing with them – we went to lunch, went to dinner, stuff like that – you kind of build that chemistry. And I think a big part of our offense is having that chemistry on the field — knowing what the other is doing without having to talk about it.”

Though Reid said the offense ran “sort of the same stuff” it used during his tenure as coach at Kansas City, some adjustments are being made to accommodate the new players.

“We’ve shown a lot here over the years,” he noted. “So we covered a lot of bases with the scope of games we had. We can dust off – and put back in – a few things that might be more conducive to a bigger player.”

According to Mahomes, that will be enough for a substantial change.

“We will be different,” he declared. “I think you saw last year that the defense started to formulate good game plans – at least early in the season – trying to stop Tyreek and Trav [tight end Travis Kelce]. We had to find ways to succeed [in] other ways, so we [could] Get these guys open.

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“I think this year we’re going to be different – where you won’t know where you’re going to get the deep ball from [and] You won’t know where to get the short pass from because we have a lot of different guys who can do anything. So I think to have everything [these] Guys I think it will help us get more of those deep throws that we are used to.

“It has to be a new offense,” Kelce said. “I think that’s what Coach Reid and the offensive staff do – and even Spags do [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] on the defensive side. They look at the staff they have. [They] don’t get caught up in their specific scheme. They try to build a scheme around the pieces they have.

“And that’s going to be the excitement of what’s new this year: teams need to see us come out and attack them. And with a guy like 1-5 [Mahomes] Out there – who knows where the ball will go – I think it can certainly be an advantage.