Not sure I agree on Alex Smith but definitely the rest. This is a different team, he's also up against, I think, more guys who you'd expect to take snaps than Hardman was in his rookie year.

Have I been surprised by his limited snaps and production, yep, but what I still see is a guy who can separate early and has reliable hands (not on PRs!). The problem I think he'll have for the rest of the year is he does a lot of what JJSS does, and he now seems to be having a resurgence/building some chemistry with Pat. I really hope they scheme him some plays as you say, particularly if we're using a few more screens. He was billed as a YAC guy so lets see that.

I know he's been on the field a LOT more but I'm honesty surprised Moore has got the attention of people and nobody's mentioned Karlaftis' incredibly limited impact and production.
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Most rookies don't come in and look great. Never know until like year 3 if they are starters or not.
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Yep, if you get a rookie that can contribute in the first year that's a win. If they're better than who they're replacing and/or above average it is a massive win. Plenty of guys you're just going to have to accept that a large part of their cheap contract is a wash, if they make it at all.
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We didn't draft him to return punts. I still think he will end up being a productive WR.

If you don't like him because you wanted Pickens, take that up with Veach. Same with Hardman over Metcalf. Drafting WR's doesn't seem to be Veach's strength.
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Speaking of "the next AB," you all DO realize that Pickens is going to fucking snap AB style, right? Like, it's going to happen.

You keep him festering in Shitsburgh with that god awful QB? Yeah, he's going to snap.

Hell, he might have even snapped if he had been in KC with Mahomes, particularly if we're taking a "spread the ball around" approach to our offense for the long term.

But hey... at least you got your highlight reel catches!
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For what it's worth, my position has been that if I were hell bent on WR there I'd have taken Pickens.

But who id have preferred is Sam Williams.

But hey man, you and Scott Pioli should just form a bowling team and name it 'the right 53' is someone like Pickens is just too risky for your tastes...
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Pierce has looked pretty good in Indy as well, but yeah, Williams is looking more and more like that should have been that pick.
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It's more that I'm really fucking fed up with hearing about Pickens.

Pickens is a talented athletic WR who now plays for a franchise known for allowing their WRs to make plays. His production thus far has been pretty good for a rookie who's not starting, and he's made some highlight reel catches and plays. And everybody's acting like the book has already been written. Pickens is teh amazeballs and Skyy Moore is teh sucksballs!

It's not that simple.
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With the Chiefs history of drafting WRs. The fact they even draft one above the 4th round is already a win
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Pierce or Tolbert were my two guys. Pierce would be overshadowed by MVS right now.
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I don't think that's the case at all; I think it's a straw man.

I think people who liked Pickens going into the draft are seeing him do exactly the sort of things they thought he was capable of and are chagrined that he's not doing them here.

Many of those same people are disappointed in Moore.

They're separate inquiries.

What's odd to me is the push-back against a real-time analysis of the player. Especially coming from the author of the "Frank Clark Fucking Sucks" thread. For a year or more all you (and I) wanted to do was say "man, Frank Clark is not playing good football" and it was met with awfully similar shrieks to what we're seeing right now w/r/t Moore.

Excuses, hand-waiving, unsupported claims regarding role and historical performance.

If we've reached a point where someone can't even say "man, Skyy Moore has not helped this team at all through 7 games of the season..." without getting some visceral reaction from a Moore Stan, what are we even doing here?

Frank wasn't "doing his job" just as Moore isn't "performing as expected for a Reid rookie WR".

Again I ask his supporters, who among you predicted this level of performance coming into the season? And please, show receipts. Because I didn't like the pick and still had him being about twice as productive as he's been to this point. Am I supposed to pretend like it's all been wine and roses with the guy?
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Shit, Pickens might have been as well.

But that's why I just didn't see the need to grab the 13th WR off the board with a 2nd round pick when we still don't have a DL worth a shit...

It just wasn't such a dire need that you go scraping through the leftovers to grab one at/near the top 50 picks.
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Is it excuses and hand-waiving to say, "Not every player who has an okay/decentish NFL career is going to come out playing like Randy Moss in his rookie season?"

I'm not even predicting Moore is going to have an okay/decentish NFL career. I'm just saying please wait a goddamn minute. And in the meantime, remember when Chase Claypool had that stretch of like 4 games in his rookie year where we all went, "Hoo boy look out" and now that franchise is just counting down the days until his contract runs out. Or they just get impatient and trade his ass.

And I don't fault you for wanting to go DE and pointing out the current issues we have there and how we could use a player like Williams. I'm comparing WR to WR only.
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No, it's just a straw man.
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If only we had drafted George Pickens.

Then we'd have an official George Pickens thread where we are complaining about the fact he's only getting 10 snaps a game...
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