It May Be Smoke, but Henry Ruggs III Would Make Chiefs Unstoppable

With only a couple of days left until the 2020 NFL draft, the predraft rumors are flying by in swarms. Many more teams have been linked to either trading up or down in the first round on April 23 than those who haven't.

One of the franchises linked to making a move up the board is the defending Super Bowl champions, and they are reportedly targeting a wildly talented wide receiver who ran the fastest 40-yard dash at this year's scouting combine.

It may well be that Kansas City's pursuit of Alabama's Henry Ruggs III is just one more piece of the scuttlebutt of which there's no shortage right now—scuttlebutt that won't amount to anything. But if it's true and the Chiefs can find a way to acquire the young speedster, then an already formidable offense would sail right past fearsome, hurl past frightening…

And land squarely in abjectly terrifying.

It was Peter King of NBC Sports who reported that the Chiefs are interested in trading up to land the 5'11", 188-pound Ruggs, who caught 40 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns for the Crimson Tide in 2019.

Vasha Hunt/Associated Press

"Craziest rumor of the first round: Chiefs want to trade up for Henry Ruggs if he falls into the twenties. Insane. Do they want every sub 4.35 guy in the National Football League? A couple of theories: There are only two very good cover corners in this draft, (Jeff) Okudah and (C.J.) Henderson, and they’d be long gone by the time the Chiefs could make a reasonable offer. Sammy Watkins is a short-termer, probably only one more year in KC, so another quick-twitch guy would fit either this year or next. Finally, fast guys with slight builds who collide with defenders tend to get hurt, so Ruggs would be good insurance for that in 2020 and a stalwart beyond that."

Before we continue, it's caveat time. The first is that wide receiver isn't Kansas City's biggest need as the draft nears—that would be the cornerback position after Kendall Fuller departed in free agency. It also would be no easy feat for the Chiefs to move up—the team has just five picks in the 2020 draft.

Ruggs falling into the 20s isn't a given, either. Per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, Ruggs has the third-best odds to be the first wideout taken in the 2020 draft at MGM Grand's sportsbook. In the recent NFL staff mock draft here at Bleacher Report, NFL Analyst Brad Gagnon made Ruggs the first wide receiver selected—by the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 12 overall.

Add that all together, and the reality is that barring a rather surprising drop from Ruggs on Thursday night, any deal to trade up from the 32nd pick will likely require parting with 2021 assets—maybe even next year's first-rounder.

That's a steep price to pay—especially in a draft class as deep at wide receiver as this one. However, we've seen the Chiefs be willing to swing for the fences in recent years. Despite the presence of Alex Smith on the roster in 2017, Kansas City dealt a pair of first-rounders to move up and select a young quarterback named Patrick Mahomes.

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That appears to have worked out OK.

The situations aren't identical (and that was under a different general manager), but it does indicate an organizational willingness to be aggressive in pursuing players the Chiefs feel will make the team markedly better.

A strong argument can be made that Ruggs would do just that.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

Ruggs' production in Tuscaloosa last year wasn't jaw-dropping, but there's one number that is: 4.27 seconds. That's Ruggs' 40-yard-dash time form the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine. But as Kyle Marino wrote for the Draft Network, Ruggs is more than just a burner.

"Ruggs brings rare speed to the table. The cliche phrases about being a threat to score on every touch are absolutely applicable. One wrong angle or missed step by the defense can result in six points because his ability to accelerate is from another planet. And Ruggs isn’t just a burner, he’s a fairly polished wide receiver that competes as a blocker. Labeling him as just a fast guy is disrespectful to his overall game. It shouldn’t take long for Ruggs to become a starting Y or Z receiver in the NFL and be considered one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the league. He’s a matchup nightmare given the attention he will command and a lack of defensive backs that can keep pace with him, even at the NFL level."

Marino's pro comp for Ruggs is Tyreek Hill. And that's where this acquisition becomes a horror story for opposing defenses.

Hill, who is arguably the most dangerous downfield threat in the NFL, ran a 4.29-second 40 at West Alabama's pro day in 2016 and tied for the fastest speed (22.81 mph) run by any player in the league during a game last year. Second-year pro Mecole Hardman peeled off a 4.33-second 40 a year ago in Indianapolis. Watkins is the slow poke of the bunch at 4.43 seconds in 2014, but there's plenty of tape that shows him running right past defensive backs.

The Chiefs already have the fastest WR corps in the game. Kansas City was fourth in the NFL in yards per catch last year and led the league in pass plays of over 40 yards—and that was with Hill on the shelf for four games.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Add Ruggs to that mix, and...great googly moogly (that's a technical term). The Chiefs could just run four verticals every play like a game of Madden. Unless the poor cornerbacks (you can almost hear them weeping) play 15 yards off the line, someone is getting roasted. There are usually only two safeties back there to help out. Throw in Mahomes' phenomenal accuracy on long passes, and it will be a bloodbath.

And that's without even mentioning that the Chiefs also have one of the NFL's most dangerous pass-catchers at tight end in Travis Kelce.

It feels like I should mention him.

Go ahead. Try to devise a defensive game plan that will cover all that.

Now the defensive coordinators are weeping, too.

This is likely little more than a thought exercise. A fantasy for fantasy football enthusiasts. Ruggs is probably coming off the board in a spot that would be too costly for the Chiefs to trade into given the depth at wide receiver this year and the team's other needs.

But if the Chiefs decide that cost is worth it or Ruggs somehow slides (nothing can be ruled out in this weirdest draft in modern history)…

We're going to see an offense in 2020 that makes the "Greatest Show on Turf" look like a team from the 1950s.