Josh Gordon gives Chiefs the secondary wide receiver target they’ve lacked

Josh Gordon is signing with the Kansas City Chiefs and the wide receiver, though probably no longer a superstar, offers massive upside in this offense.

It’s been a tumultuous NFL career for wide receiver Josh Gordon but, still 30 years old, he’s been reinstated and will now get his next chance. On Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed that the former Brown, Seahawk and Patriot would be signing with the Kansas City Chiefs.

For as prolific as the Chiefs are offensively, there has been a quiet problem with that unit this season. Patrick Mahomes is the NFL’s best quarterback while Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are elite pass-catchers. But they’ve lacked a consistent secondary option at wide receiver.

Through three games, Kelce has 26 targets with 20 catches for 289 yards. Hill has 26 targets with 19 catches for 267 yards. After that, it’s a huge drop to Mecole Hardman with 15 targets and only 107 yards — and he’s the only other player on the team with more than six catches and 81 yards. That’s the void Gordon can fill.

For what it’s worth, Josh Gordon appears eager to come in and do exactly that.

https://twitter.com/josh_gordonxii/status/1442582550082297857?s=21

But that’s not a guarantee. So what can we expect from Josh Gordon in Kansas City?

Projecting Josh Gordon’s role, fantasy football outlook and more with the Chiefs

At this point and with Gordon having not played since 11 games with Seattle and New England in 2019 and being 30 years old, we’re not looking for him to replicate his insane 2013 season when he had 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns in only 14 games with horrendous quarterback play.

With that said, he can be a valuable cog in one of the most explosive offenses in the league. And a good comparison might be to look at Sammy Watkins. In 2018-20, Watkins was the third-best receiver on the Chiefs in yards per game. Now, that was still substantially behind Kelce and Hill but he was a solid player who, frankly, could’ve had a bigger role if he could stay healthy.

Gordon could be that type of player who allows Mahomes and Andy Reid to rely less on, frankly, unreliable players like Demarcus Robinson or Byron Pringle. He can get roughly 3-5 targets per game and, with the attention being paid to Kelce and Hill, those could be high-value touches that open up the offense and get the Chiefs clicking full force.

Fantasy football managers would be wise to take a flier on Gordon as he should fill that Watkins role once he gets “up to speed” and activated off the practice squad, where he’ll join as he signs his new deal. You don’t want to be the guy who misses out on the upside of this play so you can hang onto a backup running back or another wide receiver who you’re waiting to break out.