Why the Kansas City Chiefs offense should improve in 2020

Beset by injuries

Another factor that hurt the offense in 2019 was the team’s health issues. Patrick Mahomes injured his ankle during the first game of the season, and he clearly struggled to maintain his consistently brilliant play because of it. The ankle and knee injuries plagued him for nearly two-thirds of the regular season, which was something nobody expected. He was still good, still playing at a level near the top of the league, but he wasn’t the Mahomes of 2018.

The health of any one player is a gamble in the NFL. However, it’s rare for pocket passers to have multiple seasons in a row where they struggle with injury. Mahomes himself explained one of his focuses this offseason is injury prevention. If the Chiefs can ensure Mahomes health, you can expect a sizeable jump for the offense from this alone in 2020.

Beyond Mahomes, the rest of the offense suffered significant injuries as well. I can’t remember a year where the Chiefs encountered such consistent injuries like they did in 2019. There were multiple weeks where two or three starters were missing along the offensive line, including Eric Fisher for a half season. Tyreek Hill missed more games this season than he had in the previous three seasons combined.

The list goes on and on. This was one of the toughest years the Chiefs have had on the injury front in recent memory. There’s no guarantee that next year will be better because football is a brutal sport. However, it’s rare for teams with a quality medical staff like the Chiefs to have struggle multiple years in a row with such injuries.