On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs lost their first game of the season, and a big part of that was the passing game being exposed with Rashee Rice out. Patrick Mahomes threw for a season-low 165 yards and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the second game in a row. That last part is huge, because Mahomes doesn't go consecutive games without a touchdown often. It happened last December against the Texans and Chargers, it happened once in 2024 and it happened once in 2021.

The team's lack of viable NFL receivers is an issue, and if Kansas City wants to win another Super Bowl this season, the team needs to go out and find receiver help at the trade deadline.

Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans

This is probably the most realistic trade option for the Chiefs because it's for a player who will be very cheap who is on a team that has no reason to keep him around.

The Titans are barely playing Calvin Ridley at this point. He has just five receptions so far this season and missed Week 7 with a hip injury. He has as many games without a reception as he has games with a reception. Its clear that Tennessee wants to prioritize getting the ball to guys who are part of the long-term plan in Tennessee rather than forcing Cam Ward to throw to a guy who is unlikely to be here past the deadline. Makes sense.

The question for the Chiefs is if Ridley has enough left in the tank to make an impact in Kansas City. He's probably not a burner at this stage, but his route-running ability should allow him to get open, and the upgrade from Ward to Mahomes is a sizable upgrade, which should help Ridley perform better with more accurate targets coming his direction.

Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts traded guard Quenton Nelson to the Seahawks earlier in the week, so the question right now is how much the team plans to tear things down at the deadline. It's become increasingly clear that spending money on Daniel Jones post-Achilles tear was a bad move, so the Colts might just be in a spot where they opt to go full rebuild.

If they go with a total rebuild and put every option on the table, Josh Downs would be a super intriguing guy to go after. You might need to overpay to get Indianapolis to part with the 25-year-old wide receiver, but he would give the Chiefs a reliable slot option. He's been hampered in Indianapolis this season by Jones' play, ranking 83d among wide receivers in catchable target rate, so an upgrade in target quality could help Downs go up a tier in terms of production.

The issue here is just the cost. The Colts don't need to trade Downs, so it's going to take some convincing in the form of draft capital. If you can get someone like [spoiler for a later section of the article] Brian Thomas Jr. for a similar (or even lesser) cost, why not just do that? Downs would be a great option and would rank second of the four wide receivers here in terms of how confident I'd be that they'd make the Chiefs better, but he's also likely the most unrealistic option.

Quentin Johnston, Los Angeles Chargers

A trade with a division rival? Is that even realistic? Maybe not, but you could make a strong argument that Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston would be a great choice for the Chiefs to go after.  

The 2023 first-round pick looked to be developing into a really good receiver in 2024 and 2025, but this season he's ended up regressing into just being a big-play threat and nothing else. He's caught just eight of his 22 targets, with a 20.6 yards per reception mark that's his highest in a season. His past two games saw him have one catch for 44 yards in one game, then one catch for 57 yards in the next one.

Johnston would give Mahomes a big-bodied deep threat, something he definitely could use right now. Consistency has been an issue for Johnston this season, but consistency has been an issue for the entire Chargers offense, so it's easy to see why the Chiefs would think that a change of scenery would be useful for him. 

Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars

If we're talking about the option most likely to actually be a game-changer for the Chiefs, it's Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who has fallen out of favor wth Jacksonville and has been talked about a lot as someone on the trade block. 

Thomas is a third-year receiver who isn't far removed from his 2024 rookie campaign, which saw him catch 87 passes for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns. 2025 was a down year for Thomas, though, and instead of bouncing back in 2026, the regression has continued, and he has just nine catches for 105 yards through six games. He's dropped from 75.4 receiving yards per game as a rookie to 17.5 per game this season.

What's the reason for those struggles? It's hard to say. Drops have been an issue. Getting separation has been an issue. Is this a situation where moving from one team to another is what Thomas needs in order to get his game fixed? Probably, yeah, though the Chiefs would be taking on some risk considering how 2026 has gone. It's likely worth the risk to get someone who has the speed to be a huge open-field threat.