Four stats that prove Patrick Mahomes is NFL’s best quarterback

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is amongst the NFL’s elite, despite a down 2021 season. But, he still has a case for the league’s top quarterback.

The Kansas City Chiefs, unlike many NFL teams, do not have any concerns about the quarterback positions. Some teams are looking at draft classes or free agents, wondering who will captain their offense. Luckily, the Chiefs have a generational talent in Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs went all-in to draft Mahomes, and their investment paid off. Mahomes showed out in a Week 17 start. Veteran Alex Smith mentored Mahomes for his full rookie season. The rest is history from there.

Mahomes has reached several career firsts and is among the NFL’s best quarterbacks of all time. If fans want to compare his career trajectory to greats like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees, they can. While the race for the NFL’s QB1 has gotten more crowded lately, Mahomes still has career milestones, achieved or soon-to-be reached, that other quarterbacks cannot match.

1. 4,000+ passing yards in four of his first five seasons

If Mahomes’ Week 17 start in his rookie year was any signal, he hit the ground running, to say the least. He earned MVP and Offensive Player of the Year in 2018, a career-defining feat for any player. Mahomes’ hot start has put him in elite company, with only Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning.

If Mahomes exceeds 4,000 passing yards in 2022, he and Manning will be the only quarterbacks in league history to reach that production in five of their first six years. That feat is all the more impressive considering that Mahomes only made one appearance in his first year.

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2. The NFL’s career leader in passer rating

While the NFL developed and adopted the passer rating metric in 1973, no other quarterback has a better career passer rating than Mahomes. His 105.8 passer rating leads all quarterbacks with at least 10 career starts.

Notably, the AFC West’s four active starting quarterbacks have top-25 career marks. That is the NFL’s only division with such a high standard of quarterback play.

Mahomes does have a slim 1.3-point lead over Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but Mahomes is setting the bar for quarterback play entering his sixth season.

3. The best winning percentage among active quarterbacks

From individual play to team success, Mahomes continues to excel. He has a 50-13 record as a starter, good for a 79.4% winning percentage. That mark is the best among active quarterbacks with at least 10 career starts.

And those are just his regular season wins. Mahomes’ eight postseason wins tie him with the likes of Dan Marino, Steve Young, and Eli Manning. While Mahomes, or any quarterback, will likely never exceed Brady’s 35 postseason wins, Mahomes is already one of the best. It doesn’t matter if it is September or January.

4. NFL record for passing yards per game

Some of the NFL’s all-time best quarterbacks were not asked to air the ball out all the time. But Mahomes has been the best at doing it week in and week out. He averages 301.4 passing yards per game, which leads all quarterbacks with at least 10 career starts. Fellow young uns like Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow average at least 280 passing yards per game but are still well behind Mahomes.