Athleticism, Smarts Will Help Chris Conley Play DeSean Jackson Role for Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs were able to sign wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to fill a major need thanks in part to his prior relationship with head coach Andy Reid. Maclin was the best wide receiver on the market and played for Reid for four years in Philadelphia.

As good as Maclin is, he alone isn’t going to turn around the Chiefs’ passing game. Reid still needs a wide receiver to play the role of DeSean Jackson opposite Maclin to recreate the passing offense that averaged a top-10 rank with both receivers.

Although it may not be apparent from his size, rookie third-round pick Chris Conley is the perfect candidate to fill the role. Conley has the athleticism and smarts required to make an impact right away.

That’s good news because the Chiefs' passing offense was 29th in yards last year and 24th in 2013. Reid’s only worse finish was his very first year as head coach in Philadelphia back in 1999. Reid compensated with a top rushing attack, but that wasn’t enough.

"You like building it with draft picks," Reid said via Phil Sheridan in the Philadelphia Inquirer way back in 2002. "I like bringing in a player you can kind of mold into your program. That doesn't mean we haven't had luck with some of the free agents we've picked up. But you want the bulk of your players to come from the draft."

Like Jackson, Conley ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. Conley also had a ridiculous 11’ 7” broad jump and equally ludicrous 45” vertical jump but don’t call him a workout warrior just because not a lot of people were talking about him prior to his impressive display in Indianapolis.

Conley played in a run-heavy offense at Georgia that turned running back Todd Gurley into a first-round pick of the St. Louis Rams, but when he did get opportunities he didn’t disappoint. Conley averaged 16.6 yards per reception in his college career, including 18.3 last year, on 117 catches.

Player	Height	40	Broad	Vertical	3 Cone	College TD Ratio
Chris Conley	6'2"	4.35	11' 7"	45"	7.06	18.8%
DeSean Jackson	5'10"	4.35	10' 2"	34 1/2"	6.82	13.6%

Conley also had eight touchdowns on just 36 catches last year, four on 45 catches in 2013 and six on 20 catches in 2012. In total, Conley caught a touchdown every six receptions in college. Jackson was a similar college weapon, catching a touchdown on 13.6 percent of his catches compared to Conley’s 18.8 percent.

To say Conley didn’t have college production to match his insane workouts numbers would be inaccurate. Conley was impressively productive when given the opportunity as he led the Bulldogs in receiving in each of the last two years.

Conley is not the type of player the Chiefs will have to worry about off the field. He’s not an athletic freak with character red flags or anything like that. In fact, he is so intelligent and has so many other interests; a common question he gets is why he wants to play football at all.

“Although it is a high risk career, the NFL affords you unique opportunities in meeting people,” said Conley via Darren Heitner of Forbes ”Even now I think there’s a huge part of this process that’s about education. We haven’t dealt with a lot of money. We haven’t been in a business setting. We’ve been students.”

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Conley sees his NFL career as an opportunity beyond Sunday, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care what happens on the football field. Like NFL players that hold degrees in fields that allow them to be successful outside of football, Conley knows he'll be fine if football doesn’t work out, but he’s still going to strive for excellence.

“I was always the person who said if I’m going to do something, I want to do it well,” said Conley via Heitner. “I don’t want to do it in such a way that I’m mediocre. That is the same way I approach football.”

Conley has the type of intelligence that will enable him to learn the complexities of Reid’s offense as a rookie. Specifically, Reid likes his receivers to learn every receiver position and defenses, just like the quarterback.

"He goes through a progression with the width of his split." Reid said via Sheridan in that 2002 piece. “Is he on or off the ball? How is the man over him playing? How is the man behind the man over him playing? Things can change on the snap of the ball. They might go from a two-deep zone to a three-deep zone, or from a two-deep look to a man look. You have to be able to make adjustments fast."

While young receivers take some time to adjust to the NFL, young receivers in Reid’s offense can take even longer. Conley has the traits to overcome rookie challenges to play a key role on the offense.

"

Chris Conley to me was the best player at camp from an athletic and consistency perspective.

— Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) May 18, 2015"

Now, just because Conley can play the role of Jackson doesn’t mean he has to be more productive than Maclin as Jackson was during their time together.

“There’s two ways you can run the West Coast offense,” Maclin has previously said via Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com. “You can run it where the flanker position, you can put him in the slot, put him in motion, or you can tailor it around a single receiver who’s always by himself. And when Marty (offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg) was here, we tailored it around the flanker position. That’s just how it was.”

Expect the passing offense to run through Maclin, but for Conley to be a movable and productive piece of Reid’s offense. For a rookie to be as productive as Jackson and Maclin given the demands Reid puts on them is a rare thing.

Now that quarterback Alex Smith has a couple of weapons in the passing game, it’ll be on him to figure out how to use them. However, unlike the receivers he’s worked with in the past, Maclin and Conley can create separation.

Smith is conservative to a fault, so throwing into coverage and letting a player like Dwayne Bowe wrestle the ball away from a defender is not his strength. He had a similar issue with Michael Crabtree in San Francisco.

Just in case Smith isn’t around for Conley’s stay in Kansas City, he’s also good at that whole catching in traffic thing.