Kansas City Chiefs: Connection Between Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill Is Real

The Kansas City Chiefs kicked off the regular season with a dominant offensive performance against the Los Angeles Chargers. What’s the biggest highlight?

The Kansas City Chiefs proved to the world that their offense is going to be explosive in 2018 after their performance against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday afternoon. It was a game that most national analysts and even many Chiefs fans had the team losing. Instead, the team came out in dominant fashion to take charge of the AFC West right out of the gates.

The biggest takeaway from the first game of the season has to be the connection between quarterback Patrick Mahomes and wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Both players had a phenomenal performance showing their elite talents. It all started for Hill when Kansas City’s defense was able to force a three and out on the first drive of the game, forcing Los Angeles to punt the ball.

Tyreek Hill’s name was being chanted from the stands, and he did not disappoint. Taking it back 91 yards for a touchdown, Kansas City was on the board without the offense playing a single snap. Then came the connection between Mahomes and Hill.

On the first offensive drive, Kansas City was moving the ball down the field. To finish off the drive, Patrick Mahomes threw across his body to Tyreek Hill over the middle on a slant route in which he took for another touchdown worth 58 yards. It wasn’t the only time they splashed either.

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Tyreek Hill came away with seven receptions on eight targets collecting 169 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball twice for four yards. It was clear that Hill was a significant part of the game plan against the Chargers. It was also clear that Hill might have the biggest connection with the new quarterback.

Tight end Travis Kelce came away being targeted six times, only bringing in one of those for six yards. Sammy Watkins was targeted five times while coming away with three for 21 yards. The next closest top receiver was fullback Anthony Sherman who caught one pass for 36 yards which ended in a touchdown. It was also the biggest play of Sherman’s career.

Tyreek Hill’s ceiling will be raised this season with a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes under center. Mahomes’ arm strength and talent alone give Hill more opportunities along with the willingness to take shots down the field in tighter windows allowing Hill to make a play. We saw multiple passes on Sunday that we wouldn’t have seen if Alex Smith was still the starting quarterback.

It’s bizarre to realize that Hill has only been a full-time wide receiver for one year going into 2018. Throughout college, he was primarily a running back. He came into the NFL as a gadget player that was utilized around the entire offense. In 2017, Kansas City placed all their bets on Hill as they cut veteran wide receiver Jeremy Maclin for Hill to take on the number one receiver role. It worked out, to say the least.

During the 2017 season, Tyreek Hill hauled in 75 catches for 1,183 yards and seven receiving touchdowns. He was the face of Kansas City’s deep passing game under the motivated Alex Smith. During his career, Smith has been known as a conservative quarterback that doesn’t turn the ball over. With that, he also rarely went deep.

In 2016, Smith threw the ball more than 20 yards in the air a total of 46 times, completing 15 of those. In 2017 with Patrick Mahomes sitting behind him, Smith threw the ball deep 62 times, completing 33 of those passes. The change in efficiency is well documented as Smith was one of the best deep passers in the 2017 season.

There was still much to be desired following the 2017 season. The team decided to move on from Smith, even after having a career season with the team. Patrick Mahomes steps in, and the ceiling of the offense has been lifted by a good level. The arm talent and playmaking abilities that Mahomes possesses have the opportunity to take this Kansas City offense to a place it’s never been before.

One of those places is developing the best wide receiver in Kansas City history. The list of All-Time Chiefs wide receivers is quite a weak list. Dwayne Bowe is the second-best wide receiver in team history to give you a point of reference. With Mahomes on the field, Hill will automatically start to be talked about among the top wide receivers in the NFL this season following the performance against Los Angeles.

Mahomes will give Hill more opportunities to make a play on the ball which is something that Alex Smith was often unwilling to do. Smith wanted his receivers to have a clear lead on their defender if he was throwing the ball deep. We saw in the play when Hill fell awkwardly on his shoulder that Mahomes was willing to less Hill go up for contested catches.

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I’ve been preaching this offseason that Hill could have another career season in 2018. I think that if the connection between Mahomes and Hill continues to grow, we will see Antonio Brown type numbers from Hill, and then whatever he comes up with in the punt return game. It’s going to be a special year watching this connection.

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