Patrick Mahomes’ supporting cast with Chiefs ranked as NFL’s best
By Matt Conner
Patrick Mahomes enjoys the best supporting cast in the NFL, per Bleacher Report’s rankings.
The Kansas City Chiefs have the rarest of setups in the NFL.
The moment they struck gold by trading up for quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 NFL Draft, they added to their offense the most dynamic young talent to come along at the position in quite some time. One MVP season and Super Bowl win later, Mahomes has clearly elevated the Chiefs from playoff contender to elite superpower.
That said, Mahomes enjoys the spoils of being surrounded by such a strong supporting cast—one recently voted as the NFL’s best by Bleacher Report. The scary part for the rest of the NFL is that the Chiefs could be even better offensively in 2020. Per Kristopher Knox:
"Even though Mahomes and Hill missed time with injuries, Kansas City finished last season fifth in scoring and sixth in yards. There is zero reason to believe this group won’t be better in 2020."
Last season, the Chiefs were ranked No. 12 overall, but as Knox explains, the rankings were released before Tyreek Hill’s situation had cleared up, allowing him to remain with the Chiefs instead of being replaced, as expected, by rookie receiver Mecole Hardman. The Chiefs had also waved goodbye to Kareem Hunt, which looked like a major hurdle to overcome as well.
Fortunately for the Chiefs, the offense was Super Bowl worthy even in a season where they suffered so many injuries. Mahomes himself missed two-plus games. Tyreek Hill sat out four games and missed the majority of two more. Eric Fisher sat the first half of the season, and Damien Williams didn’t get healthy until the season’s second half.
Now that everyone is back and healthy, the Chiefs can roll out with Hill, Hardman, Sammy Watkins and tight end Travis Kelce as pass catching options to go with the tandem of first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Damien Williams in the backfield. If healthy, the Chiefs not only have more talent than last year but also more experience and championship chemistry, with first-hand knowledge of what it takes to make a deep postseason run.
It’s one thing for a team to have such an incredible core of playmakers for a quarterback to enjoy. It’s another thing entirely for that quarterback to be the game’s very best. That’s why it’s hard to count the Chiefs as anything but favorites to repeat in 2020.