Patrick Mahomes Deep Ball Is... Broken?
Diving into the Chiefs' poor vertical passing attack of 2024.
It’s no secret that the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense has struggled in new ways during the 2024 season. One of the more obvious elements they’ve struggled with is attempting to push the football downfield in the passing game. It’s not overly surprising, the Chiefs had been trending this direction since the loss of Tyreek Hill but it’s hit an all time high in 2024.
After the 2023 season that saw many of the same issues pop up, the Chiefs spent the offseason talking about being more aggressive and bringing back the vertical passing attack. Well that simply hasn’t happened at this point. In fact, the Chiefs deep passing attack is somehow worse than it was in 2023.
Not have the results been worse this season but the product on the field has simply looked terrible. Last season it was a pretty easy “finger point” to the wide receiver position in a lot of ways. That same position group sure carries some of the blame this year, but so does the offense line and arguably the most blame might land on Patrick Mahomes shoulder.
The Chiefs’ Deep Ball
To start this off we do have to acknowledge that the Chiefs came into this season hoping to have their top two wide receivers be Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown. Brown - who we will touch on again later - hasn’t played a game yet and Rashee Rice played just three games before injury.
This means the product on the field for the Chiefs could very heavily be impacted by the loss of those two players. This has forced other players to step up and the Chiefs to trade for DeAndre Hopkins mid-season. These important things do need to be acknowledged before diving into the issues.
The Lack of Opportunities
In 2024, the Chiefs have the lowest percentage of their pass attempts going for 20+ yards or what are considered deep passes. Mahomes’ deep pass attempt percent sits at a flat 8%. For a reference point, he has typically hovered around 10% in his career with his next lowest season being 2022 where it was at 9.4%.
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