It didn’t take Mark Bradley long to figure out there was a need for a wide receiver like him in Kansas City. Since he arrived, that need has only become more critical.

For the past 15 years, wide receivers have not, surprisingly, been especially high-profile performers for the Chiefs. They weren’t marquee players even when Dick Vermeil’s offenses ranked among the NFL’s top five for five straight years, including league-leading rankings in 2004 and 2005.

Only once during the past 15 years has a wide receiver, Andre Rison in 1997, led the Chiefs in receptions. The team’s other top pass catchers since 1993 have been tight end Tony Gonzalez eight times, fullback Kimble Anders four times and running back Priest Holmes twice.

Such workloads sometimes left enough catches for one wide receiver, like Eddie Kennison, to enjoy a couple of 1,000-yard receiving seasons. The rest of the receivers usually were left with scraps, though Johnnie Morton hit 50 catches in 2003 and 2004 playing opposite Kennison.

That pecking order among receivers has been disrupted. With the trade of Gonzalez to the Falcons, the Chiefs can no longer get by with just one busy wide receiver, and that should be good news for Bradley. He entered off-season workouts as the starter opposite Dwayne Bowe.

Once the Bears released him and he joined the Chiefs before the fourth game last season, Bradley wasted little time carving out a niche for himself.

With Gonzalez working the middle and Bowe out-jumping smaller defensive backs or breaking tackles after short or intermediate throws, Bradley became the primary downfield threat. The top receivers caught 96 and 86 passes, respectively.

Bradley caught 30 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns, a surprisingly healthy contribution from a player who’d been left at the curb.

“He’s a speed guy, he can stretch the field and that helps out a lot,” said Tyler Thigpen, who took over at quarterback in the seventh game last season.

”He was given a second chance and I think he wanted to take full advantage of that. In one week he learned the offense, then we had a bye week and he was ready to go.

“Give him a lot of credit for putting that responsibility on his shoulders coming in and being able to make plays like he did. They’re expecting big things out of him, and the quarterbacks are expecting big things out of him as well.”

Big things were expected of Bradley when he was a second-round draft choice in 2005. He started four of his first seven games as a rookie, but then suffered a season-ending knee injury. He missed another five games with an ankle injury in 2006 and couldn’t get untracked in Chicago.

Once he joined the Chiefs, though, it became clear why Bradley had been once so highly regarded. He has pretty good size, 6 feet 1 and 201, for a speed receiver and was also a record-breaking high jumper and long jumper in high school. But the NFL is full of elite athletes who are just passing through, and Bradley was on the verge of becoming one.

“When I got here, I was excited about a new start and things are working out so far,” he said after an off-season workout.

“I knew what I was capable of doing, it was just a matter of getting a chance and showing what I could do consistently. Once I got here, I could show that and I took off from there. I got more plays, got more involved in the offense and things started coming my way.”

His involvement in the offense should only deepen because for the Chiefs, a busy second wide receiver is no longer just an option. Now it’s a necessity.