Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City’s rookie wide receiver is making big strides during the team’s training camp in St. Joseph.
Over the last two years, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has turned in less-than-spectacular passing numbers — even as he led his team to the Super Bowl in each of those seasons.
But general manager Brett Veach has continued to add wide receiver talent to the team. In 2023, SMU’s Rashee Rice fell just short of becoming the first Kansas City rookie to collect 1,000 receiving yards. Unfortunately, he was also the only wideout to total at least 500 on the season.
In 2024, first-round draft pick Xavier Worthy unexpectedly had to shoulder the load after Rice was injured in Week 4. By then, the team had already lost recently signed wideout Hollywood Brown to injury on the opening snap of the preseason. Mahomes ended up hitting career lows in both passing yards and touchdowns.
But Rice, Worthy and Brown are all back for 2025 — and Veach has added fourth-round pick Jalen Royals to the roster. Halfway through training camp, the former Utah State wide receiver is drawing terrific reviews from his coaches — and from his teammates.
“He’s catching the football well,” noted head coach Andy Reid after Sunday’s training camp practice at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. “[He’s] strong [and] looks like the quarterbacks trust him. That’s a big part of it. As you watch, you just kind of see who the quarterbacks are going to, and there’s a certain trust that they’re developing in that kid. So, that kind of speaks for itself.”
“I think he is a visualizer,” observed offensive coordinator Matt Nagy after the first week of camp. “So when he sees it, it takes him one time. Then the next time, he comes back and does a good job.”
“He is learning real fast,” said Rice on Saturday. “I wouldn’t necessarily say he is like me — because he is his own person — but he is going to be a dog his rookie year, for sure.”
JuJu Smith-Schuster — who is now the wide receiver room’s most experienced veteran — characterized him as a strong, quiet player who works very hard.
“He’s a guy that’s going to show up every day and just work,” he declared. “He doesn’t say a whole lot. He’s very coachable. He’s a sponge. He’s a great dude to be around in that room.”
Brown is the room’s other “old hand” — and sees the same thing.
“[He’s] a quick learner,” he told reporters last week. “He’s taken advantage of his opportunities, making plays. I think he’s going to make some plays for us.”
In contrast, quarterback Patrick Mahomes has thus far chosen to display his confidence in Royals where it counts the most: on the field.
This connection with Mahomes is happening because Royals is working hard to create it — by “learning from him and [doing] what he says.”
“In the meeting room,” the rookie told...
