Patrick Mahomes dared defenders to hit him (and they absolutely will)

Facing a key third down in their season opener on Friday night, the Kansas City Chiefs were in a spot. Trailing the Los Angeles Chargers 13-6 in the third quarter and facing a 3rd-and-8 at midfield, the Chiefs needed a play of offense. Patrick Mahomes tucked the ball and ran. Bursting through a hole to his right, he picked up the first down and more.

Mahomes was headed toward the sideline with Chargers corner Donte Jackson closing in. Normally, this is where you would see a quarterback avoid contact and step out of bounds. But not this time.

Rather than giving himself up, Mahomes lowered the hit stick.

It was an exclamation point at the end of an important play for the Chiefs—they would go on to score their first touchdown of the game four plays later, which came off another Mahomes scramble.

At the same time, the hit has created a new precedent that Mahomes and Chiefs Kingdom are going to have to live with from now on.

To be clear, what Mahomes did was totally within the rules. It was a normal football play. The hit wasn’t high, it wasn’t late, and he didn’t lead with his helmet. But whether it was deliberate or inadvertent, Mahomes took advantage of a rule designed to protect both himself and his fellow players. That could very well change the way defenses approach him in the future.

Player safety is, rightfully, at the forefront these days. Unnecessary hits aren’t just frowned upon, they’re penalized. Defenders know they can’t hit a player, especially a quarterback, when they’re out of bounds. Doing so draws a flag almost instantly.

Patrick Mahomes may have unwittingly invited the league’s defenders to approach him differently.

That protection extends to a QB who has given himself up too, either by sliding or by voluntarily stepping out of bounds.

It looked like Jackson followed protocol. He appeared to ease up, at least slightly, expecting Mahomes to step over the sideline and choosing not to initiate a hit. Because of this, not everybody thought Mahomes’ hit was fair game.

Mahomes isn’t the kind of player to shy away from contact. Last year, he trucked 49er Malik Mustapha on this touchdown run, and he took a hit that literally broke his helmet while fighting for extra yards in the freezing cold against the Dolphins in the playoffs, too.

However, there have been times when he and the Chiefs have benefited from what could be called overly strict enforcement of QB protection rules, too, including a hit in 2023 that was not dissimilar to the one last week.

The protection offered to Mahomes and the way defenders play against him haven’t gone unnoticed either.

And now, after dishing out his most recent hit, Mahomes may have unwittingly invited the league’s defenders to approach him with the same level of physicality.

They’ll be coming hard.

If Mahomes is heading for the sideline in the future, opposing players likely won’t assume he’s stepping out of bounds. They’ll be ready to dish out a hit of their own rather than being on the receiving end like Jackson was.

As for the officials, if a player opts against using the protections in place for them, perhaps that makes referees less likely to throw a flag too. It could change the way they view and interpret a hit along the sideline, and maybe next time, there won’t be an unnecessary roughness call where there might have been before.

Chiefs Kingdom needs to be prepared for some of those calls not to go Kansas City’s way, whether rightly or wrongly.

I hope that Mahomes doesn’t become a target. I hope that opposing players don’t cross the line to make a statement, and I hope referees don’t overcompensate and become unsympathetic toward genuine fouls or late hits Mahomes takes.

But most of all, I hope Mahomes does more to protect himself. I hope he either gets out of bounds earlier or chooses to slide sooner. Mahomes might have set a new precedent, and above all, Chiefs Kingdom just hopes he doesn’t get hurt.