The Kansas City Chiefs are less than 48 hours away from kicking off their 2025 NFL season in Brazil against the divisional rival Los Angeles Chargers. Patrick Mahomes is looking for a bounce back year after struggling (by his standards) during the last two regular seasons as the skill positional talent around him has diminished.
Recently, ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler made an observation about the Chiefs leading up to this season that will have other teams shaking in fear.
“As far as the Chiefs, don't be surprised if familiar faces Isiah Pacheco and JuJu Smith-Schuster are factors in Brazil. Pacheco looks healthy and is running hard. And with Rashee Rice suspended for six games, the Chiefs trust Smith-Schuster in their three-receiver sets,” reported Fowler on ESPN.com.
“…Mahomes looks ready to fire off some explosive plays. He is coming off one of his better camps, playing ‘fast, fun and free' as one team source said, and getting back to creatively trying difficult plays that only he can make. Perhaps that's an experimental practice thing, but Kansas City believes Mahomes is close to hitting those explosive plays on a regular basis again,” he added.
Can the Chiefs bring back the fireworks?
During the early part of their dynastic run in the late 2010s, the Kansas City Chiefs became known for their light show of an offense, led by Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and a prime Travis Kelce, who formed a tandem that constantly torched opposing defensive backfields.
However, Hill has been gone for a few years now and Kelce is a shell of his former self, meaning Mahomes has had to work with some less proven playmakers down the field recently. In 2023, that resulted in the Chiefs setting an NFL record for dropped passes in a season (and still winning the Super Bowl), and this year, as Fowler mentioned, Kansas City will spend over a third of the season without their best receiver in Rice, who was recently sentenced for his role in a 2024 hit and run incident.
Still, if these reports turn out to be true, Mahomes and company could be on their way to turning into a devastating force of nature once again.
