Chiefs Are Confident in Versatility of New-Look Offense
The Kansas City Chiefs attempted 40 passes in their loss to the Chicago Bears on Saturday, and starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes was responsible for seven of them. Despite having just a 17.5% share of the pie, the superstar signal-caller and his surrounding unit were able to execute perhaps the most impressive drive of the day.
Mahomes completed six of his seven pass attempts, throwing for 60 yards and a touchdown in the process. It was a very efficient drive from the Chiefs' leader, as he struck a balance between taking simple dump-off passes and extending plays in a manner that he's somehow made seem normal for his standards over the years. Head coach Andy Reid said he was going to give Mahomes the entire first quarter to play, although that ended up turning into well less than that. Sticking to the plan, Mahomes said he and his teammates took care of business in their limited stint together.
"We did what we were supposed to do," Mahomes said. "We went out there, we were able to spread the football around, get a lot of different guys involved and found a way to get into the end zone. That's what our goal was — come out here and score a touchdown. We did that, so it was definitely a good day and something we can build on."
This year, the Chiefs have to learn how to navigate life without star wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Hill, who was traded to the Miami Dolphins back in March, is perhaps the most explosive non-quarterback playmaker in the entire NFL. He's also one of the very best in league history, which makes replacing him directly a fool's errand. Instead, Kansas City loaded up at the receiver position and opted for versatility and depth over a star-for-star swap of sorts. The early returns on that series of decisions are undoubtedly positive.
Several Chiefs got involved on that initial drive yet somehow, there were many others who remained left out. That's the beauty of this year's Chiefs offense: there are so many options to choose from. Mahomes has leaned on Hill and tight end Travis Kelce in the past, but now he'll likely be forced to spread the ball around as much as possible just like he did on Saturday. After the game, Mahomes said things will look different moving forward but he also added that this group's selflessness is exactly what he wants.
"I think it's going to be a lot like that this year," Mahomes said. "It's going to come from everywhere. We saw six different receivers [catch a pass]. JuJu (Smith-Schuster) didn't even get a catch, you didn't see any of the other tight ends get catches. It's going to come from everywhere this year. It's going to be hard for teams to kind of gameplan against. Obviously, Travis (Kelce) is going to probably have a lot of catches; that's just who he is. But I think other than that, it's going to come from the whole group. I think the guys have kind of embraced that and know that whenever their number does get called, they're going to make a play and if the other guy makes the play, they're going to be happy for him. That's what you want as a team and an offense."
One receiver who came on particularly strong during the second quarter — once Mahomes had exited the game — was free agent signing Justin Watson. Watson, who has battled throughout the offseason and training camp for a potential roster spot at the end of the month, comes from a Super Bowl-winning team in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has adjusted to learning another club's playbook for the first time in his relatively young NFL career. When asked about the versatility of this year's Chiefs offense, Watson also spoke highly of the talent and subsequent possibilities for Kansas City.
"They do such a great job here," Watson said. "Obviously, you have Patrick, just an unbelievable quarterback [with] arm talent, he's the full package. Then you look at coach Reid, he's been in this game for so long. They've had fast guys and had big receivers. He's won with just about any type of receiver and tight end combination. I think it'll look a little bit different this year... There's a lot of talent, there are a lot of playmakers. I think it's going to be exciting as an offense."
Reid's unit will only garner more and more experience together over time, and that will come with inevitable growing pains. Not every outing will be as successful as Saturday's. With that said, the ceiling for this group is also extremely high and more repetitions should lead to more of those aforementioned possibilities being explored. The Chiefs' first-team offense got off to a terrific start against the Bears, and that's a valuable baseline to go off of as week two of the preseason looms.
