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USATSI

Patrick Mahomes spent his first four years as a starting quarterback with Tyreek Hill as his top wide receiver. The duo combined for 343 catches for 4,854 yards and 43 touchdowns over the last four years, all ranking in the top 10 in the NFL.

The Kansas City Chiefs decided to move on from Hill this offseason as he sought a significant raise from his current contract, trading the speedster to the Miami Dolphins for five draft picks (including a first-round pick and second-round pick in this year's draft). Mahomes admitted moving on from Hill was a possibility, even if he was surprised by the move. 

"Obviously my initial reaction was a little bit of shock. Even though I knew this was a possibility, he's a guy that we've built a friendship with over the last six years," Mahomes said at Chiefs virtual minicamp Monday. "You didn't want him to leave, more just for the being able to hang out in the locker room and do that stuff more than just the on-the-field stuff. But you're happy for him, he got a great contract and he's back where he has a house in the offseason, he's around a lot of his family. I wish the best for him. 

"Then for me it was just, we've got to keep rolling, that's how it is in this league. It's a business as much as it is about your friendships and stuff like that. We know that to keep having success in this league we have to keep evolving, keep getting better. I got with these new receivers to try and build that as quickly as possible so we can have success right when we get going this year."

The Chiefs will have a much different look on offense without the presence of Hill, particularly with the personnel they acquired at wide receiver. Kansas City signed JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency, adding speed in the slot with Smith-Schuster and a deep threat with Valdes-Scantling. The Chiefs also have the No. 29, No. 30, No. 50, and No. 62 picks in the draft -- four picks in the first two rounds to add even more talent at wide receiver. 

Kansas City also has Travis Kelce at tight end and Mecole Hardman back at wide receiver, along with Clyde Edwards-Helaire and free agent addition Ronald Jones at running back. This offense will look different in 2022 without the speed of Hill, but the Chiefs have the winning combination of Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid.

Hard to count the offense out of anything.

"I'm very interested to see how defenses are going to play us in general because a lot of that shell coverage was because of the speed that we had on the outside," Mahomes said. "This year we have that speed still with guys like (Marquez) Valdes-Scantling and Mecole (Hardman), but we also have bigger guys that can catch it over the middle with Travis (Kelce) obviously and JuJu (Smith-Schuster) and all these guys. 

"We have a nice mixture of speed and size which I think will force defenses to not only play those deep coverages but also come up and play some man, too. I think we'll have a different variety for them where they won't know exactly where the ball is going every single play, they don't know where it's going to because we have so many different guys who can make plays in this offense."