Patrick Mahomes: Interception percentage nearing elite level for KC Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes is keeping his interception ratio at an elite level for the KC Chiefs

Since early on his career with the KC Chiefs, there have been some comparisons between Patrick Mahomes and Brett Favre. Before the 2018 season, even his coach, Andy Reid, thought there might be some similarities.

Yes, you can see some of the same gunslinger mentality in Mahomes that was so part of Favre’s game. Only once did Favre have and interception percentage under 2.3 in a season – the penultimate campaign with the Vikings in 2009. He threw just seven picks in 531 attempts, or 1.3 percent, which was the best in the NFL. His career interception percentage was 3.3.

Conversely, Favre led the league in touchdown percentage four times, including a career-high 7.2 percent in 1996.

Patrick Mahomes protects the ball for the KC Chiefs

In 2019, Patrick Mahomes threw 484 passes and only five interceptions – good for a 1.0 interception percentage. This easily beat Favre’s best season in this stat. In 2018, his first as a starter, Mahomes had 50 touchdowns with 580 attempts – leading the league with an 8.6 interception percentage – again, well above’s Favre’s best.

It is a minimal sample size of just 31 games, but Mahomes has a 1.6 career interception percentage in his brief career. How does that stack up with some of the elite quarterbacks of this century?

Peyton Manning’s career mark in this stat is 2.7, with only three seasons under 2. His best was 1.5. It should be noted though that one season, Manning had a 9.9 touchdown percentage, which is amazing.

Drew Brees’ career average is 2.3, but he has been under two in five of the last seven seasons, including 1.0 and 1.1 the last two seasons. Pretty impressive!

Russell Wilson’s career average in interception percentage is 1.8. He has been under two percent four times, including a match of Mahomes’ 1.0 in 2019.

Aaron Rodgers has been genuinely amazing over his entire career. His number in this area is 1.4 over 15 seasons. He has been under Mahomes’ career average eight times. In fact, over the past two campaigns, Rodgers has a total of six interceptions on 1,166 passes – that is .5 percent!

How about Tom Brady? You don’t become the greatest (so far) of all-time by throwing picks. His career mark is nearly as good as Rodgers, at 1.8. Brady has eight seasons under Mahomes’ mark of 1.6, and two seasons with a percentage under one.

Patrick Mahomes learned from Alex Smith

Mahomes wasn’t exactly a turnover machine in college. He threw 29 picks on 1,349 passes as a collegiate for a mark of 2.1. During his rookie season, under Alex Smith’s mentorship, he probably paid close attention to how Smith protected the ball.

In his five years with the Chiefs, Smith set a mark of 1.4, and in the one season in which Mahomes watched from the sideline, Smith had just five interceptions in 505 attempts.

While Mahomes certainly has some gunslinger attributes, he also knows the value of each possession, and he isn’t just flinging the ball into traffic, though at times it might look like it.

He’s human, and there will be games throughout his career when his gunslinging ways may get him into a bit of trouble. We’ve already seen it, though rarely.

The good news is that all of the quarterbacks mentioned above improved in this category as their careers progressed. They figured how to avoid interceptions.

Mahomes is already slightly ahead of the curve. The sample size is small but very promising. He’s already at an elite level when it comes to protecting the ball, and has he showed improvement between his first full year as a starter and his second.

Patrick Mahomes is not only a quarterback who can make fantastic completions for the Kansas City Chiefs but can also protect the ball and keep possession for his high-powered offense. If he improves even more in interception percentage, the KC Chiefs will be hard to beat for a long time.