The passing attack looks ridiculously good
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs passing game are pretty good. I know, it’s shocking analysis. That’s what I’m here for.
Look, you’ve seen the highlights from camp. Mahomes has picked up right where he left off. In fact, he looks even better than I remember from camp last year. He’s dropping passes on the money left and right—deep balls, short passes, and every route in-between. He and the entire passing attack look poised to challenge the video game-like numbers they put up last season.
Does the passing game look this good because the Chiefs aren’t great in coverage or do the Chiefs not look that good in coverage because the passing game is this good? That might be the question of training camp so far. Hopefully the first preseason game will give us a better idea, but watching them in person, it sure feels like this passing offense is on a freakishly elite level.
Like I said, Mahomes looks significantly better than he did one year ago before he put up one of the best seasons in NFL history and won the MVP. Tyreek Hill looks even better and more dangerous too, if that’s even possible. Travis Kelce is the best tight end in football. Sammy Watkins looks healthy and poised to put up big numbers. I think people forget just how dangerous he can be with the football in his hands.
Rookie wideout Mecole Hardman is going to absolutely be a factor and new weapon that defenses have to account for this season. Yes, he has had the occasional drop, but he’s consistently made big plays and looks like he could be another freakish deep threat to pair with Hill and have opposing defenses trembling in fear. Demarcus Robinson also had a few nice plays with the first team while I was there.
As far as the bottom of the roster wideout spots go, don’t count out Marcus Kemp. He made some fantastic plays while I was watching and is a proven contributor on special teams units. If the Chiefs were to only keep five wideouts my five today would be Hill, Watkins, Hardman, Robinson, and Kemp in the last spot ahead of guys like Gehrig Dieter (who’s been hurt), Byron Pringle (who has also made some nice grabs), and several other young guys who have flashed some ability.
Now let’s talk for a second about the tight end depth behind Travis Kelce.