The Kansas City Chiefs have designated WR Skyy Moore, known as a Philadelphia Eagles slayer in Super Bowl LVII, to return to practice on Thursday. While Moore’s unlikely to be activated to the 53-man roster, this move has its perks for Kansas City. Namely, making life harder for their opponent.
Moore was placed on injured reserve earlier this season after suffering a core muscle injury. Chiefs HC Andy Reid said ahead of the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills that Moore was among the players unlikely to return this season, alongside WR Rashee Rice.
Moore, of course, caught his first career touchdown in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LVII on the infamous “corn dog” play. It’s a play the Chiefs ran successfully, twice, against the Eagles that year.
KC Star reporter Jesse Newell snapped a shot of Moore at practice alongside the team’s special teams players on Thursday.
This move to bring Moore back to practice doesn’t necessarily mean that the Chiefs will activate him to the 53-man roster ahead of Super Bowl LIX against the Eagles. In fact, I’d bet against that happening at this juncture.
The same problem that existed with Mecole Hardman still exists for Moore. The Chiefs have six healthy receivers (Hollywood Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Nikko Remigio) on the 53-man roster and no open roster spots. They’d need to release someone to make room for Moore, but the position group just doesn’t need any more bodies currently.
So, why bring Moore back to practice at all if you don’t intend to activate him to the 53-man roster? First, it’s a good move to make if he’s ready to return to practice. It gives you an extra body for the scout team. It’s never a bad thing as you get prepared to face an opponent, especially one that Moore has already faced in the Super Bowl before.
Most importantly, this move will force the Eagles to spend time game-prepping for Moore, who, as previously mentioned, scored a touchdown against them in the last Super Bowl matchup between these two teams. They could always not spend time and risk being unprepared should K.C. activate him, but that’d be a risk. It’s ultimately a savvy piece of gamesmanship from Brett Veach and Andy Reid that will force the coaches and players in Philly to spend extra time preparing for something that may or may not happen.
