Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes about to re-enter MVP race

Patrick Mahomes was the first ever member of the Kansas City Chiefs to win the league’s Most Valuable Player award. He’s not really in the conversation currently, but don’t you worry because he will be.

If you turn on ESPN, open up Twitter, or browse the internet at all, you have probably heard something about how great Lamar Jackson is playing right now. The electric runs, the jaw dropping numbers, the Ravens steamrolling every team that stands in their way.

Jackson has become the clear front-runner for MVP, and if he keeps his current pace up, will probably be a lock for the award. So, what about last year’s MVP and Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes? Where does he fit into this conversation? We talked about that, and much more, on this week’s episode of the KC Kingdom Podcast.

Below you can hear our thoughts on the MVP Race, a preview of Raiders vs Chiefs, and so much more. If you aren’t interested in the podcast, keep reading on just why Patrick Mahomes is about to explode onto the MVP scene and make a push to go back-to-back.

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/20299138

Alright, back to the MVP race. Let’s take a look a look at some raw numbers to establish a baseline.

• Player A: 3,303 total yards, 66.9% completion percentage, 111.4 quarterback rating, 30 total TD’s, 5 INT’s
• Player B:  2,949 total yards, 65.6 completion percentage, 110.0 quarterback rating, 19 total TD’s, 2 INT’s

Player A is Lamar Jackson. Player B is Patrick Mahomes.

Obviously, Jackson is having a better year so far. When you put the numbers side by side, everything looks pretty similar, with the exception of Jackson leading by a wide margin in the touchdown category. When you take into context of Mahomes’ entire season, though, the numbers start to tell a different story.

First off, Mahomes has played hurt and missed multiple games. That is the obvious caveat to get out of the way. If you take Mahomes’ season averages and apply them over the 15 quarters (one short of three full games) that he has missed, Mahomes would be at 3,974 total yards and 25 touchdowns.

At his current pace, Mahomes wouldn’t have caught Jackson in TD’s, but would have blown by him in total yards. Then you have to consider what Mahomes has played without as far as weapons go; Tyreek Hill, Eric Fisher, Damien Williams, Andrew Wylie and Sammy Watkins have missed multiple games. Despite the offense being in shambles, Mahomes was still playing on another level.

Then there is Mahomes’ health to take into account. He has been battling an injured ankle since week one, and has now worked his way back from a dislocated knee cap. Obviously, you can’t just get those games back from a statistics standpoint. There is reason to believe Mahomes can re-enter the MVP race going forward, and it has everyhing to do with team health.

Before the Chiefs got to rest on the bye week, they were expecting to see their full starting offense together for the first time since the first quarter of week one. Six snaps into playing the Chargers, Tyreek Hill pulled up lame with a strained hamstring.

Then the bye week hit, and based off of the injury report, the Chiefs finally look healthy. This means Mahomes and his arsenal will be on full display against a Raiders team who just got blasted by the New York Jets. This is going to be the first in a string of games that MVPat is going to start slinging the ball around the yard, and the eye popping numbers that everyone was seeing to start the year will resurface.

The MVP award isn’t all about stats, though, as narrative plays an important role. The Chiefs, and Patrick Mahomes, have a chance to take advantage of this. Chiefs vs Oakland this week was flexed to the afternoon, and the week after the Chiefs play the Patriots in another afternoon tilt. The second window of games in the NFL is generally viewed as almost primetime.

This past week, only two games were on in the late window. This gives the Chiefs a chance to take advantage of most of the eyes of football fans the country. Kansas City also has a primetime date scheduled against the Chicago Bears.

Assuming that game doesn’t get flexed out, Mahomes has multiple chances to showcase to a national audience just exactly how good he is, and he can remind everyone why he was the reigning MVP in the first place.

The MVP race is one that is heavily driven by narrative. The Ravens have all the hype right now, but they could be peaking two early. If the Ravens lose one or two games down the stretch, and the Chiefs subsequently catch fire, Mahomes could push himself squarely into the MVP conversation.

This bodes will for the Kansas City Chiefs, as a dominant Patrick Mahomes is exactly what they need to reestablish themselves as a powerhouse in the AFC going forward.