Sportsnaut
The Kansas City Chiefs have been declining as a passing team since the departure of Tyreek Hill (2022), combined with the start of Travis Kelce‘s decline as an elite option (2023). They were 1st in passing yards a game in 2020 and 2022, while being 5th and 1st those years in passing yards per play. In 2021, they ranked 4th (per game) and 11th (per play).
In 2023, they were 6th (per game) and 16th (per play). Last year, it fell even more to 14th (per game) and 22nd (per play). As great as Patrick Mahomes is, he still needs elite talent to reach the upper echelon that he was performing at between 2020-2022. He was also at the level in 2018 before a dip in stats similar to what we saw in 2023-2024. It’s not a coincidence that Hill missed 4 games in 2019.
In the last 2 seasons, Mahomes has averaged 4,056 passing yards with 27 TDs / 13 INTs. The 3 years prior, he averaged 4,943 passing yards with 39 TDs / 10 INTs. He had elite Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill during 2020-2021, and even without Hill in 2022, he was still left with an elite Kelce.
He needed someone to step up, and the losses of Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown early in 2024 put him behind the eight ball. It wasn’t until the addition of DeAndre Hopkins for the October 27th game, which coincided with rookie Xavier Worthy’s growth, that he finally had the capable talent to perform back closer to his ceiling.
Prior to the October 27th game, Mahomes had 6 TDs / 8 INTs in his first 6 games. From 10/27 on, he threw 20 TDs / 3 INTs over those last 10 games. Now, he gets Year 2 of Worthy, a returning Rice and Brown. It doesn’t hurt that Kansas City used their first-round pick on a left tackle for his blindside either.
Kareem Hunt rejoined the Chiefs in Week 4 of the 2024 season after Isiah Pacheco went down. Hunt filled the role as a volume back and ran for 5 TDs in his first 5 games back. When Pacheco returned, the duo split the carries with neither being truly effective outside of Hunt recording 2 more rushing TDs in the last 2 games the pair played in the regular season.
In the playoffs, the Chiefs had Hunt take the bulk of the carries, where he scored rushing TDs in each of the first 2 games, making it 4 straight games, including the regular season. As far as yards per carry on the season, Hunt came in at 3.6, falling below a 4.0 average for the third year in a row.
Pacheco missed 10 games in 2024. Before and after the injury he struggled, averaging 3.7 ypc. That was down a full yard per carry compared to his average in the 2 previous seasons. In the 3 playoff...
