KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jeremy Maclin hasn’t signed his contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, and already numberFire.com is out there suggesting the receiver won’t have the same impact for his new team that he did last season for the Philadelphia Eagles.

NumberFire reasons Andy Reid has had only four 1,000-plus-yard wide receivers in 16 seasons as a head coach and quarterback Alex Smith has a strong preference for the short passing game. The combination, numberFire says, makes the Chiefs’ offensive system the least friendly in the league to a wide receiver.

It’s true that few of Reid’s wide receivers have gone over 1,000 yards. Maclin never got to 1,000 yards in his three seasons with Reid in Philadelphia, though he did have 964 yards in 2010 and probably would have got there had he not missed three games in 2011.

But Reid was often playing with less than a full wide receiving deck with the Eagles. In his early years in Philadelphia, his best wide receivers were players like Torrance Small, Todd Pinkston and James Thrash. Good players, but not in the Maclin category.

Bigger numbers started happening for the Eagles receivers once Reid started getting players like Terrell Owens, DeSean Jackson and Maclin. In any case, a wide receiver wound up leading the Eagles in receiving nine times in Reid’s 14 Philadelphia seasons.

We all know how short the Chiefs have been at wide receiver in the two seasons since Reid arrived, and really for a long time before that.

Smith is another story. In his nine seasons as a starting quarterback, a wide receiver led his team in catches just three times. It’s worth noting that when Smith played with a receiver in Maclin’s category -- Michael Crabtree -- he did lead the San Francisco 49ers in receiving in 2011 and 2012.

But it’s been mostly short stuff for Smith in his two seasons with the Chiefs. Running back Jamaal Charles led the Chiefs in receiving in 2013, and tight end Travis Kelce did last season.

Compare that to teams around the NFL. In Smith’s 10 NFL seasons, 245 times a wide receiver has led his team in receiving, compared to 60 for a tight end, and 20 for a running back.

The Chiefs are paying Smith enough that he needs to pick up his downfield game. The Chiefs have talked a lot in his two Kansas City seasons about getting him to go down the field more.

It hasn’t paid off yet, but it better soon. Otherwise, in bringing Maclin to Kansas City the Chiefs are just wasting their time, and money.