Chiefs roster evaluation: Patrick Mahomes cements his role as NFL’s best in 2020
By Scott Loring
It’s time to begin our Kansas City Chiefs offseason roster evaluation, and we begin at quarterback, the most important position of all.
Each offseason, we follow in the footsteps of our favorite team and evaluate the roster, position by position. Given the Super Bowl win and the ensuing hysteria, we’re doing so a bit later than ever this year. This is is a schedule we could get used to.
On Monday, we’re taking a closer look at quarterbacks and continuing for the next two weeks. We’ll be asking three primary questions in the series: 1.) What we thought would happen?, 2.) What actually happened?, and 3.) What have we learned going forward?
What we thought would happen at quarterback?
The Chiefs entered 2019 with the reigning NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes. Coming off a year in which Mahomes became just the second player in league history to pass for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns, the expectations were through the roof for the 24-year-old from Texas Tech.
The consensus was that, while either 5,000 passing yards or 50 touchdowns was within reach for Mahomes, it was impractical to expect both again.
However, the combination of Mahomes, head coach Andy Reid, and a slew of playmakers at their disposal meant the sky was the limit. Even the most tepid of floor expectations were 4,000+ passing yards and 40 touchdowns, which would put any signal caller in the Pro Bowl.
Numbers aside, the intangible expectation was that Mahomes would bring elite leadership, consistency, and championship-caliber play to the most important position in all of professional sports. In his 2018 season, Mahomes surprised many with his consistency, throwing just 12 interceptions. The team never scored fewer than 26 points.
There were whispers of concern about the potential for distraction from Mahomes’ sudden influx of endorsements in 2019, as he made notable deals with Adidas, Hy-Vee, Oakley, Hunt’s Ketchup among others. Possibly the most controversial off-season endorsement was his selection for the 2019 Madden cover, a dubious distinction that has often spelled disaster for the player. Despite all the fanfare and commercial shoots and being saddled with “the Madden Curse,” Mahomes handled it all with veteran savvy.
Behind Mahomes, the Chiefs prepared to enter training camp in 2019 with 34-year-old backup Chad Henne and allow newcomers Chase Litton and Kyle Shurmur to fight for a shot as a developmental quarterback.
Through all of training camp in 2019, the resounding narrative was that somehow, Mahomes looked even better than he did in 2018. He was throwing darts all over the field, no-look passes every day, and it appeared that we were in for a treat. Knowing that the bird in the bush had become the bird in the hand, head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had an entire offseason to come up with “Pat Plays,” so Chiefs Kingdom awaited what would come.