Kansas City Chiefs

Most indispensable Chief? It's Jeremy Maclin -- and it ain't close

Published Jun. 30, 2015 4:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Remember the Titans.

Remember, no matter how much it aches. And if you're a Chiefs fan, it should: Week 1 of the 2014 regular season, the first valley of the roller coaster to come, Kansas City's starting wideouts were Donnie Avery and Frankie Hammond Jr. Top receiver Dwayne Bowe was serving a one-game suspension as a result of his infamous "Sonic" arrest from the previous November.

Remember, because in a season of crazy highs and bizarre lows, the season opener turned out, in hindsight, to be the lowest. Quarterback Alex Smith completed 19 of 35 throws for 202 yards and one score and got picked off three times. Of the Chiefs' 12 third-down opportunities, only one was converted -- a toss to Jamaal Charles on third-and-1, barely seven minutes into the game. Coach Andy Reid tried and tried and tried and tried, but the engine never turned over. Of the hosts' 13 drives that afternoon, 11 amounted to zero points. Five were three-and-outs. Three ended with a Smith interception.

Remember, because Tennessee rolled at Arrowhead Stadium, 26-10, and would win just one more contest over the next 16 weeks. The Chiefs would win nine more, demolishing the New England Patriots and physically manhandling the Seattle Seahawks on the long, strange path to 9-7, missing a second straight postseason berth by a whisker. The NFL is all about fine margins, and Week 1 was one of those that the locals would've given a case of Boulevard Wheat to have back.

Remember, because if you're counting your blessings this Independence Day weekend, be sure to include Jeremy Maclin on the checklist. Perhaps offer up a small toast for his continued good health and happiness.

But especially the health.

We've seen this offense without a true No. 1 wideout on the field.

It ain't pretty.

"He's a guy that can do everything," Smith said earlier this month when asked about Maclin, the Chiefs' marquee offseason signing to replace the departed Bowe at the top of the wideout pecking order. "At this level, that's so rare. A guy that has the speed and quickness to be able to do that and be a threat downfield, but also has the size to move inside and can do a lot of things in there for us.

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"And then I think he has the smarts and technician of route running and understanding how people are defending him. Like I said, not many weaknesses."

And, to this point, not much cover. Proven cover, anyway.

Justin Houston? You can't replicate a pass-rusher in his prime with a 3-D printer, but Dee Ford was drafted for a reason. Charles? You drafted Knile Davis for a reason, too. Alex Smith? Chase Daniel isn't Big 11, but the ex-Mizzou star should be 2-0 as a Chiefs starter.

Sean Smith? See Charles, only replace "Marcus Peters and Steven Nelson" with Davis. Eric Fisher? Come on. Derrick Johnson? This crew came within a hair of the postseason without him. Mike DeVito? Same deal.

There are important Chiefs, and there are indispensable Chiefs. And as July beckons, with St. Joe looming in the distance, Maclin just might be the most indispensable of all.

"With him being in (the offense before), he knows a little bit more and can get a little deeper into the offense," Hammond said recently. "So he's helped out pretty much all of us as far as little detail."

They need the detail. They need the savvy. They need the experience. They need the quicks, the confidence, the trust. Maclin knows Reid, and vice versa. And the gap from No. 19 to the rest of the unit is still, on paper, a significant one: Second-year man Albert Wilson is a cult hero in the making, but he's a cult hero who checks in at 5-foot-9 with two lifetime NFL starts under his belt. Rookie Chris Conley has the physical goods -- 6-2, a 4.35-ish 40 time, freakish leaping ability -- but is being asked to learn on the fly. Jason Avant, at 32, is a coach on the field and a fantastic tutor who nonetheless is heading into the winter of his playing career.

In this offense, right now, Maclin is the ideal wing. The other Chiefs wideouts are more of a prayer.

"(I'm) just a guy who moves around a lot more, a guy who you can take off the ball, bring in motion, do certain things to free him up and get some space," Maclin said recently. "And that's what you do. You take your guys, you use that talent to their advantage, you create mismatches and you say on this particular play, 'I'm trying to get this guy the ball.' But that's all across the board. We've got other guys that you can do the same thing with, so I'm excited about what we have in store."

But not exactly the same. You might contend that a receiving corps that features Travis Kelce and two chipmunks on the edge wouldn't make much of a difference because of Kelce's skills and Smith's (and Reid's) love affair with tight ends.

True enough, but whatever you thought of the departed Bowe, he did serve at least one weekly, consistent function: He occupied the best perimeter pass defender on the other side of the line. Take away Maclin, you take away one less thing for the defensive coordinator to give a flip about, depending on how fast the Conley train is (or isn't) coming along.

"Yeah, he's just so strong around the football and no surprise, you just look at his track record and kind of what he's done -- (he's) just so strong when the football is coming his way," Smith said. "Contested, in tight windows, things like that, he's so good about it. He makes a lot of those tough catches, puts himself between the ball and the defender more often than not."

Before you can make something happen with the rock, you've got to be willing to fight for the thing first. Last fall, Week 1, without Bowe, Chiefs wide receivers were targeted 17 times. Only eight of those balls wound up being caught.

Remember the Titans. Because without Maclin at 100 percent, the Chiefs run the risk of staring at a season to forget.

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.