Trent McDuffie expects a big season from Skyy Moore

During the Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, the team’s uncertainty at wide receiver has been a significant question.

After practicing against the top offense for two weeks, cornerback Trent McDuffie expects fellow 2022 draftee Skyy Moore to be a big part of the answer.

“Skyy’s my dog,” McDuffie said of the wide receiver following Monday’s practice. “That’s definitely somebody who — credit to last year — I feel like has improved a ton. You talk about his quickness, his speed off the line, his routes and just his hands. How he’s become a better receiver in this league is something I’ve looked at that has helped me a ton.”

With both players heading into their second seasons in Kansas City, McDuffie believes Moore is making him a better player.

“We talk about a few guys that I go against every day — and he’s one of them. He’s the one who’s going to show me the best looks [and] give me the best routes — and I love competing against him every day. It’s been a lot of fun coming out here and going against Skyy.”

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Echoing many media takes regarding the wide receivers in this year’s camp, McDuffie believes that combining Moore with veterans Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson — plus rookie Rashee Rice — will create a position group with good complementary abilities.

“Each one of them has a unique skill set,” he explained. “You’ve got MVS — who’s a burner. You’ve got Skyy who can do the dirty work. You have guys like Rashee Rice who comes out here and J-Wat. [They’re] a bunch of dudes who can catch the ball really well and run really good routes.”

Of course, it is easier for receivers to step up when the league’s best quarterback is throwing to them.

“With [Patrick Mahomes] back there, you’re pretty set as a receiver,” admitted McDuffie. “And these guys have done a good job of just taking it all in and going out there and attacking each day. So I feel they’re going to have a great year.”

McDuffie joined the Chiefs as they were undergoing a major transition in their wide receiver group. Starting with the team’s organized team activities (OTAs) in the spring, he has seen a net positive result from the turnover in personnel.

“We had a bunch of receivers who came in [last year],” he recalled. “So this team was really pretty new — pretty new at relationship building and who we are as people. Over the course of a whole year, we made it all the way to the Super Bowl — and won the Super Bowl. [We] came back for OTAs, and it felt like nothing fell.

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“It felt like the Super Bowl team came into OTAs and started off really strong. Coming into training camp, it feels like nothing’s gone missing. Everybody’s been building and building.”

It’s happened so much that McDuffie seems tired of going up against such a prolific offense each day.

“I feel like Patrick has a lot of weapons,” noted McDuffie, “and I’m really excited for them to go out there against somebody else — other than our defense — and kind of put on a show.”