Heading into the offseason, following their Super Bowl LIX loss, most of everyone knew exactly what the Kansas City Chiefs needed to do to improve. While their weaknesses centered around the offensive line and wide receiver, there was an offensive philosophy shift that needed to happen. After years of gunslinging Patrick Mahomes, 2023 and 2024 saw a different version of the quarterback.
In those seasons, his touchdown rate dropped sharply, as did his yards per attempt. He wasn’t pushing the ball down the field like he used to. Some of it was due to personnel issues, but Andy Reid focused his attention on crafting an offense that focused on the short and intermediate areas of the field. What we’ve heard all offseason from Chiefs camp is that that was about to change.
Patrick Mahomes’ deep pass to Tyquan Thornton shows Chiefs’ offensive change
On Friday, we got quite possibly the clearest example of that coming to fruition. During the Chiefs’ final preseason game, Mahomes launched a bomb to Tyquan Thornton for a 58-yard gain.
It was Exhibit A for what many analysts have been reporting for a while: the Chiefs want to revive the deep ball on offense. While it’s only one preseason play, it certainly feels like Reid is committed to letting Mahomes launch it downfield much more frequently this season.
The biggest reasons Mahomes didn’t throw deep very often, and didn’t do it well, in 2024 were a shaky offensive line and a lack of chemistry with his wideouts. With both of those – possibly – completely solved in 2025, Mahomes may be getting back to MVP form before our very eyes.
Read the full article here
