With the Kansas City Chiefs set to scour the wide receiver market, some believe Chicago Bears WR Darnell Mooney makes sense as a signing.
Chiefs Potential Landing Spot for Mooney
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN said the following regarding Mooney: “The Chicago wideout is much better than his 2023 stat line of 31 catches for 414 yards and five TDs suggests. The Chiefs or [Tennessee] Titans could be players here.”
At the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, there’s some Chiefs wide receiver buzz swirling. According to Dan Wiederer, beat writer for the Chicago Tribune, longtime Bears wideout Mooney is being brought up as a possible free agent option.
“On a lower-profile note, some chatter in Indy from folks eager to see where WR Darnell Mooney lands in a week and a half. There’s a small buzz on the possibility of Mooney having a resurgent 2024 at a great value price. Multiple people suggested KC,” Wiederer said.
Mooney does have connections to Kansas City offensive coordinator Matt Nagy from his time as the Bears’ head coach. He enjoyed his two best seasons with Nagy at the helm, hauling in 61 passes for 631 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie and 81 passes for over 1,000 yards and another four scores in 2021.
Things have gone downhill since then. In 2022, Mooney played just 12 games and failed to reach the 500-yard mark. This past season, he posted career-worst marks in receptions (31), yards (414), and touchdowns (one), with his lowest success rate (41%) as well.
Injuries have held Mooney back a bit in recent years, as he had a couple of groin strains in 2021, an ankle sprain in 2022, and a concussion late last year.
Despite his recent decline in performance, Mooney still offers plenty of intrigue. He ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash in the pre-draft process, which was accompanied by a 37-inch vertical jump.
Mooney has caught 213 passes for 2,593 yards and 11 touchdowns over his four seasons with the Bears.
Kansas City has already released Marquez Valdes-Scantling, which saved $12 million in cap space.
KC Sports Network’s Matt Lane believes Mooney makes an easy fit into the Chiefs’ offense. “Logical move for the Chiefs if they can’t/don’t want to hit up the top end of the FA WR market,” Lane posted, “and his 50/50 outside-slot split plays into their scheme well.”
In 2023, the Chiefs found plenty of success, but the team’s biggest issue was at wide receiver. After seeing success from Tyreek Hill, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others in years past, Patrick Mahomes didn’t get that reliable prediction this past season.
Travis Kelce was still the Chiefs’ biggest threat from the tight end spot. Besides him, Rashee Rice was Kansas City’s best receiving option as he developed over his rookie season.
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For the Chiefs, Mooney would likely compete for a starting spot and replace the reps that were vacated by Valdes-Scantling’s departure.
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