Fantasy Football: Hot Take Predictions for Every AFC West Team

#2 Kansas City Chiefs

Sammy Watkins will outscore Tyreek Hill this season.

Hill finished the year as WR8 in full PPR leagues

Last season, Tyreek Hill was phenomenal for the Chiefs, showing he is much more than just a one trick deep ball pony.

Hill finished the year as WR8 in full PPR leagues. However, I think he will struggle to reach the same heights this season, for a number of reasons.

Hear me out. 2017 was a career year for his QB, Alex Smith. Smith produced above and beyond his normal capability and Hill was a large benefactor of this. This year though, he has a new QB throwing to him in Sophomore, Pat Mahomes.

Mahomes is a highly talented young player who could become a great franchise QB. However, he has only started one game in the NFL and I think he is being slightly overhyped. That being said, Mahomes is superb at throwing the deep ball, which coincides with one of Hill’s greatest assets, his speed.

In 2017 Alex Smith was the best deep ball thrower in the league, so it’s unlikely that Mahomes will be able to surpass his stats in his first year under centre.

That leads to another point. Hill will have competition on deep routes from a new recruit to this Kansas City offence. Sammy Watkins was signed to a huge three-year $48 million contract this offseason.

Watkins has had his trouble will health since entering the league, but the Chiefs clearly think he can be the x-factor in this offence. Watkins is again, great at catching the deep ball and as long as he can stay healthy, he is likely to take a lot of targets away from Hill.

Hill only had competition from Travis Kelce and Albert Wilson last year. Watkins is a far superior talent to Wilson and he will look to prove why the Buffalo Bills selected him ahead of receivers such as Odell Beckham Jr and Mike Evans.

Okay, so selecting him over those two guys was pretty rash, but that just shows that the talent is there. Watkins has had a full offseason in KC to learn the playbook and build rapport with Mahomes.

This is something he didn’t have the luxury of last year for the Rams. I can see Watkins getting back to his 2015 from where he recorded 1047 receiving yards and nine TDs. Unfortunately for Hill, this will be at the detriment to his stats. Never the less, keep an eye on this loaded offence as they will put up big points in 2018.