Patrick Mahomes named AFC Offensive Player of the Week

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week for Week 1.

For the eighth time in his NFL career, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week.

On Wednesday, the league announced the first round of official players of the week in both conferences and Mahomes was an expected name given his dominant performance in a lopsided road win over the Arizona Cardinals. Mahomes put up 5 touchdowns, threw zero interceptions, passed for 360 yards, and made a declarative statement after an offseason of media questions about the loss of Tyreek Hill.

Mahomes has won the award seven previous times in his five-year career as a starting quarterback. This is the third time he’s won the award in the opening week of the season. He did the same in 2018 and 2021. He’s averaged two honors per season, save for 2019 in which he only won after a Week 2 victory over the Raiders in which he threw for 443 yards and 4 touchdowns.

What makes this week’s award that much more impressive is the fact that Mahomes had a wrist injury to his non-throwing hand in the first quarter that needed some medical attention and required him to adjust for the rest of the game.

The Chiefs now hope Mahomes continues to display that sort of mastery in a short week as they host Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers to open the Thursday Night Football slate on Amazon.