NFL
Why does Patrick Mahomes want to throw more deep passes in 2024?
In 2023, Mahomes only completed 50 passes of 20 or more yards, whereas a year earlier, he accumulated 73 throws of that distance.
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs aspire to do something that no NFL team has done since the Super Bowl era began: win championships in three consecutive seasons. To achieve this, head coach Andy Reid’s team appears to return to the roots of a powerful offense that throws the ball deep for big yardage gains.
At the end of the last practice of the mandatory minicamp, Mahomes stated that Reid has sought to get the quarterback to throw deep passes as he did in the 2022 season.
“I think it’s great that we tried that. Coach Reid is trying to do what we did a long time ago, forcing me to throw the ball deep. If I don’t, he pesters me, ‘Oh, you wanted the short play here?’ To which I reply, ‘Okay, Coach, I’ll insist on it.’ It’s been fun, a great camp,” Mahomes said.
In 2023, Mahomes completed 401 passes during the regular season, 50 of which went for 20 or more yards. The total number of passes with great yardage has decreased because, in 2022, he added 73 passes of that distance.
Patrick Mahomes' new offensive weapons
Throwing the ball deep will be easier for Patrick Mahomes during the 2024 season because the Chiefs added two wide receivers who stand out for their speed: veteran Marquise Brown and rookie Xavier Worthy.
The average number of yards the ball traveled before Brown caught the ball during his senior season was 8.0. The ball was in the air for 410 of the 574 yards he recorded with the Arizona Cardinals in 2023.
For his part, Worthy is the fastest man in NFL history since he set the record in the 40-yard dash during the last Scouting Combine by registering 4.21 seconds.