Kansas City Chiefs fans have learned to block out any sort of criticism about Patrick Mahomes at this point. In their eyes, he's the best quarterback in the league and there's no debating that.
Just look at what Mahomes has accomplished before he turned 30 last year. He's won three Super Bowls, been to five, taken home three Super Bowl MVP trophies, and won the NFL MVP award twice. He's been an absolute stud during his eight years as a starter.
Yet, when push came shove, Mahomes fell on the top 10 quarterback rankings that ESPN puts out every year, dropping to number two after holding the number one spot for several years. Bills quarterback Josh Allen was the one who leapfrogged Mahomes on the rankings to claim the top spot.
From an outsider's perspective, this makes sense. While Mahomes had a rough year (for his standards) in 2025, Allen's Bills made it to the playoffs and won a playoff game (even if they also failed to win their division this past season).
NFL insider Jeremy Fowler appeared on The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week and talked about Mahomes dropping to the second spot. He offered an explanation as to why the two-time MVP slid down the rankings.
"There was less just blanket love for Mahomes than usual, even though he got 41% of the first place votes, which is actually more than Josh Allen but he had a lot of votes outside of the top three more than he ever had. There was more feeling like, 'Okay, it's been two or three years of — for his standards — at least not elite play.'"
Jeremy Fowler offers explanation for why Patrick Mahomes dropped in rankings
So, basically, the experts felt as though Mahomes wasn't himself and that ultimately led to the dip. Even the most diehard Chiefs fans should be able to understand that logic even if they don't necessarily agree with it. The system is based more on a "What have you done for me lately" kind of thing.
How did Mahomes respond to moving down the overall quarterback ladder? During an interview with Yahoo! Sports Daily, Mahomes was asked how he's handling the move from one to two and he gave the kind of response that Chiefs fans have grown accustomed to hearing from him.
"Yeah, I mean, you understand it. I mean, coming off injury and we didn't play as well as we wanted to be the last few years, you're going to drop in the rankings of some sort. But at the same time, there's a lot of good quarterbacks on that list and I'm just happy to be a part of it. You got to go out and prove it every single year so it's my job this year to prove why I can jump up in the list back to number one."
No one is going to be shocked by how Mahomes responded to this. If nothing else, he can use it as bulletin board material for what will be his 10th NFL season and ninth as a starter.
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