Patrick Mahomes should lead any talk of NFL’s Most Valuable Player

Patrick Mahomes is running away with the National Football League’s MVP award through nearly a half season for the Kansas City Chiefs.

There was a point during the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the visiting Cincinnati Bengals that I started to laugh. It was all I could continue to do.

Every now and then I’d thrown in an exclamatory word or phrase. Sometimes I’d shrug or shake my head in wonder at what was happening, but mostly I’d just laugh. At this point, in this season, I’d run out of words to say to anyone in the same room about the performance of Patrick Mahomes.

Even now, I find myself wondering what is left to say that hasn’t already been said. The entire nation is talking about the Texas Tech product for reasons that are completely understandable. In fact, I don’t think it’s possible to talk about Mahomes enough. He is not just a first-year starting sensation, although he is that. He’s not just a great young quarterback but a great quarterback in general. But he is young, so that deserves a mention as well.

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It’s the absolutely calm and collected demeanor at the line no matter who is across from him on the defensive side. It’s the arm strength that looks deceivingly effortless as he flicks it downfield like a paper football across a school desk. It’s his ability to keep his eyes downfield and complete passes no one saw coming. It’s in the way he extend plays for several seconds longer than any single defender should have to account for their man.

There’s enough tape out there now that someone should be able to rattle him.

There’s so little experience on his part that someone should be able to outsmart him.

They’ve played enough contenders that someone should be able to outplay him.

Yet at home or on the road, against a Hall of Fame quarterback or a celebrated defense, Mahomes is the one serving up lessons on how things are done in the National Football League as if he’s the one who has been here all along.

That makes him the Most Valuable Player—and it’s not close.

The Kansas City Chiefs are 6-1 and lead the entire AFC by a full game over two teams and by more than that over everyone else. They’ve gone toe-to-toe with the best teams in the NFL and (very nearly) beaten them all. It took a last-second field goal at home from the greatest franchise of a generation to beat Mahomes at all.

Consider where the Chiefs would be without Mahomes. Under Andy Reid, he would have them winning enough to keep pace with the contenders, of course, but the defensive woes plaguing the team would have kept them from several wins earned so far. The Chiefs might 3-4 or 4-3 right now without Mahomes and actually feeling quite good about having survived the toughest part of the schedule. With Mahomes, they mopped the floor with it and now get to beat on teams like the Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns in the second half.

If you need numbers to back up any real MVP talk, let’s run down a few bullet points:

• A league-leading 22 touchdown passes through 7 starts
• Six straight games with 300 yards passing or more
• He put up 6 touchdowns against the Steelers alone
• He’s on pace for over 5K passing yards and 50 touchdowns
• Will obliterate most Chiefs passing records including yards, touchdowns and more

If the conversation had to include at least some other candidates, there are a few players enjoying fantastic seasons in the NFL (but none like Mahomes). In the spirit of doing the right thing, it is important to acknowledge that Todd Gurley is running like a man possessed for the L.A. Rams right now. Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Jared Goff and Matt Ryan are other QBs having great seasons. Khalil Mack has been a revelation in Chicago.

Even then, each of those players need to shift their focus to a different award. The NFL’s most valuable player is only 23 and is learning as he goes—a scary proposition for everyone else. Patrick Mahomes is the best player in football these days and he just keeps getting better and better. The Bengals have learned firsthand and we’re pretty sure they won’t forget anytime soon.