The Evolution of Patrick Mahomes Into a Football Man in Full

This past August, the NFL Network released its annual list of the top 100 active players, as voted on by the players themselves.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, after ranking no. 1 on the list the summer before, had lost his perch atop the catbird seat following his “worst” season, one in which he threw for 4,839 yards and 37 touchdowns. In his place was Tom Brady—perhaps a questionable choice when ranking the best players right now, but unimpeachable as a lifetime achievement award. At no. 2 was Aaron Donald, who as a defensive tackle can never have the impact of a top-tier quarterback but, relative to his position, was as dominant as any player has been this century. At no. 3 was Aaron Rodgers, coming off back-to-back MVP awards: fair.

But Mahomes didn’t drop to no. 4 on this list. He tumbled all the way to no. 8, behind Cooper Kupp, Jonathan Taylor, T.J. Watt, and Davante Adams. And this wasn’t a one-time snub. After winning league MVP honors in his first season as a starter, Mahomes ranked fourth on this list in 2019. After winning Super Bowl MVP honors in his second season as a starter, he again ranked fourth in 2020. Which means that Mahomes has ranked—as voted by his peers on a much-hyped show created by the NFL’s own mouthpiece—among the top three players in the NFL exactly once in his career. He dropped seven spots on the list in one year as a consequence of a season in which he led his team to a tie for best record in the AFC, engineered two scoring drives in the last two minutes against Buffalo to win one of the greatest playoff games in NFL history, and, as he had in every season that he’s been the starting quarterback, kept the Chiefs’ season alive to the final moments of the AFC championship game, losing in overtime. Clearly, his season was a huge disappointment.

The NFL Top 100 was just the final indignity that was inflicted on Mahomes this past offseason. When Kansas City made the coldhearted but entirely rational decision to trade Tyreek Hill for draft picks (and the extra cap space his absence would free up), well, it was Christmas morning for the hot-take artists on cable sports talk shows. Mahomes would be exposed, they said. The Chiefs were no longer the class of the AFC West, let alone the NFL. Broncos Country, Let’s Ride.