Last Sunday during the Kansas City Chiefs' first training camp practice of the year, Patrick Mahomes uncorked an against-the-grain 60-yard bomb to rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy that predictably elicited quite the response from football fans on social media. But for the Chiefs, this deep-ball connection from Mahomes to Worthy was not just a one-time deal. It's something that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, along with Mahomes himself, wants to implement more during the offseason to make the Chiefs offense even more dangerous as they set out on their quest to accomplish the NFL's first three-peat of the Super Bowl era.
“We missed on some today (but) we've hit on some earlier in camp,” Patrick Mahomes said Saturday after practice, per Adam Teicher of ESPN.com. “That's what we're doing it for. We're out here to practice trying to shoot the ball down the field by going against one of not the best defenses in the National Football League … Guys have done a great job of building and we'll continue to get better and better with building chemistry as the camp goes on.”
It's understandable that the Chiefs would consciously make the effort to add this dynamic to their offense. Not only do the additions of Texas Longhorns speedster Xavier Worthy and notable deep-ball aficionado Marquise “Hollywood” Brown give the Chiefs the proper personnel to incorporate this in their scheme, but it's something that was fundamentally missing from their offense last year. Consider, in Patrick Mahomes' six years as the Chiefs starter, his air yards per attempt (6.9) and yards per completion (10.4) had never been lower. Don't expect that trend to continue in 2024. Worthy and Brown simply possess too much potential firepower, and Mahomes has the arm-cannon to get them the ball down the field.
Chiefs play-calling remains the same, but results are expected to differ
The good news for the Chiefs is that their offensive approach will likely remain the same. Head coach Andy Reid explained that the plays the Chiefs have been calling throughout camp have not been all that different than their play calls in previous seasons, but now with Worthy and Brown playing on the outside, the potential for fireworks is exponentially higher.
“We're calling kind of the same plays but he's [Mahomes] got guys that that's a part of their game,” Reid said on Saturday. “The best part of their game is going down field so he's utilizing that right now and testing it out, seeing how it works and so far he's had some good connections there.”
Mahomes agrees with his head coach, and believes the connections that he's building with his wide receivers during Chiefs training camp will lead to a limitless regular season.
“You just see the speed that we have and how it's opening up everybody and then even seeing Rashee (Rice) and how he's taken that next step. It is a great group that all mesh well together and so I'm excited for their future. The sky is the limit.”
You read that correctly. The sky is the limit for the two time defending Super Bowl champions. Uh oh.
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