OK! Wow! Lots happened between the last Eye in the Sky Report and this one. Let’s have at it.

The backfield! Last report I stated,"Ronald Jones may seriously threaten Edwards-Helaire as the lead carry-getter." Nix that observation as it now appearsClyde Edwards-Helaire’s chances to lead the Chiefs in carries is under threat, but rookie Isiah Pacheco is the one doing the threatening. Matter-of-fact Ronald Jones might not even make the squad. Pacheco has been impressing on special teams cover units, kick returns and now running with the first team offense along with Edwards-Helaire.

CEH and Pacheco each saw snaps and touches in the Chiefs’ first series on offense Saturday versus the Bears. Noteworthy that Pacheco was on the field when Kansas City reached Chicago’s 10-yard line and caught a pass to move the ball to the 5. Pacheco carried once for 2 yards in this drive and was 2 for 6 yards overall. Edwards-Helaire twice for 6 yards.

Pacheco added 1 kick off return for 34 yards.

Ronald Jones handled 4 totes and gained 1 yard playing with 3^rd and 4^th string QBs ShaneBuechele and rookie Dustin Crum. Crum, by the way, was extremely disappointing even against the Bears’ camp performers but was handicapped also by poor line-play. Crum did lead all Chiefs with 32 rushing yards (3 carries).

RB Derrick Gore turned in a stinker, losing a fumble, dropping a pass and unable to generate anything positive on the ground (2 for negative 2 yards). He left the game with a neck injury.

Patrick Mahomes and the ‘starting’ squad was razor sharp even in a mostly vanilla play menu. Everything thrown was short, crisp and very QB-preserving. Mahomes single series produced 6 completions on 7 tries, 60 yards and the 1 TD to TE Blake Bell.

WRs Justin Watson and rookie Skyy Moore showed up and performed impressively despite the watered-down game plan. Watson, who has garnered praise from Chiefs’ QBs in camp, led all Kansas City players with 6 targets, snagged 5 and a TD. Again, there were not many deep stems drawn up for the passing game in this one and Watson finished with just 45 yards. Moore closed with 3 catches (3 targets) for 23 yards, a kick return for 27 yards and 1 punt return for 12 yards, fair caught another.

Justin Watson has always had outstanding physical tools and was a dominating Ivy League wideout (Penn). He is shining thus far in camp and making a case to be in the active game day roster especially when accounting for his special teams works to boot.

Oh, nice catch by Marquez Valdes-Scantling on one of Mahomes’ tricky ‘no look’ tosses.

Skyy Moore missed a few practices with a hip but looked sharp and fluid since returning to camp activities.

Fantasy footballers may have a tough time keying in on a Kansas City WR for starting lineups this year. The name of the passing game in KC this season appears very much to be ‘spread and shred’. Other than TE Travis Kelce, it would seem no Chiefs’ wideout is going to come close to the target and reception totals of the Cheetah, Tyreek Hill. The plan for 2022 is for Mahomes to see the open target and deliver the ball with urgency, regardless of who that receiver is. Don’t take my word for it though, listen to the QB himself.

"I think it's gonna come from everywhere this year," he (Mahomes) said. "It's gonna be hard for teams to game-plan against. ... I think the guys have kind of embraced that."

Inspiring this share-the-wealth offensive playbook was the success opposing defenses had last season against Hill, taking away those downfield routes and daring Mahomes and Hill to adjust underneath, which happened far too often as the 2021 season progressed.

WRBC? I think so. Darn! And I was so looking forward to seeing Valdes-Scantling finally get a chance to put it all together and have THAT kind of year. Fanballers, roll those dice if you will but I fear we are looking at 4-5 Chiefs finishing games with 3-4 catches, 40-50 yards and whipping a TD catch around the horn week-to-week.

Another early projection shot to shhhh… heck. JuJu Smith-Schuster’s return to PPR dominance? Nope! He’s likely a part of the 3-4 catch club here.

Josh Gordon watch; 3 targets, 0 catches.

LT Orlando Browngot his deal done and is back in camp. Yay!

The Chiefs have a kicker with a booming leg and it AIN’T Harrison Butker. Well, Butker can drill the long ones too, but we’re talking about safety Justin Reid. Reid crushed a 65-yard field goal (no snap and hold though) and looked quite ‘kickerish’ in the process. Good form and proper strides to the ball… not the runway-kickoff type. Coach Reid was intrigued so he gave Safety Reid an XP try in the pre-season contest versus Chicago… GOOD!

IDP thoughts:

DL Chris Jones shut down an early Bears drive with a sack.

Rookie DE George Karlaftis got one as well and had 2 QB hits.

One of my close camp watch subjects, safety Juan Thornhill, came in hot and registered a sack. Love it if he starts playing with more aggression and urgency. He already owns keen ball skills. IDPers, take note that Thornhill’s game usage looked darn similar to that of Daniel Sorensen over his years in KC.

Rookie LB Leo Chenal, an aggressive downhill thumper, crashed the Bears backups for 6 solo tackles, 2 TFLs.

He played sparingly and that’s a great sign for IDP folks. I’m talkin’ ‘boutLB Nick Bolton. Bolton is firmly cemented as the defensive leader now and will be all over the field chasing the football. We got tackles, folks, lots of tackles.

Gotta’ see more pre-season works to get a good feel for what the D-line will offer IDP participants. Chris Jones looks poised to pop once again, but who else. If Karlaftis pushes Frank Clark out of the starters lineup then the rookie may deliver a nice blend of tackles and sacks. I’ll be checking in more on the D-line next EYE in the Sky Report.

End.