Six improvements the Kansas City Chiefs must make for 2022

No. 1: Turnovers

As mentioned earlier, the Chiefs led the NFL in turnovers and Mahomes had more interceptions than any quarterback in the NFL seven weeks into the season. The Chiefs finished the season with 25 giveaways, the tenth most in the NFL. That turnover total is the most the Chiefs have had during Mahomes’ time in Kansas City. Their previous high was 18 turnovers in 2018, Mahomes’ first year as a starter.

Mahomes finished ninth in interceptions thrown with 13, tying four other quarterbacks. If you go back to the season before, Mahomes threw just six interceptions and had the lowest interception rate at 1.0%. If you recall, he got away with several dropped interceptions in 2020–seven to be exact, according to Doug Farrar of USA Today’s Touchdown Wire. Some of the interceptions thrown in 2021 were on Mahomes while the pass-catchers hold some responsibility as well.

Here’s the good news: the Chiefs may already have the solution on the team right now.

The Chiefs recently brought back Matt Nagy, who was let go by the Chicago Bears at the end of the season. Nagy was the Chiefs offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017. In Alex Smith’s final year with the Chiefs in 2017, Smith had his best year statistically when it came to completions, yards, touchdown passes, and even had the lowest interception percentage rate. The Chiefs also committed just 11 giveaways in Nagy’s final year as the Chiefs offensive coordinator in 2017, the fewest that year.

The low interception percentage rate and the 11 turnovers from 2017 are encouraging signs that Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs offense can improve and limit the turnovers in 2022.