Patrick Mahomes: Great quarterback, good 2019 fantasy season
By John Buhler
Patrick Mahomes is a phenomenal quarterback. While he may have won Super Bowl 54 MVP, he only had a good fantasy football season in 2019.
Patrick Mahomes is off to arguably the greatest start for a quarterback in NFL history. In his first two years as the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, he won NFL MVP in 2018 and then won Super Bowl 54 MVP in 2019. Only three years into his professional career, one could argue Mahomes has put together a solid Canton resume already.
The Fantasy Footballers recognize his greatness but do want to bring up something of note regarding his 2019 fantasy football output. Mahomes was QB7 this year, throwing for 4,031 yards, 26 touchdowns and only five interceptions in 14 starts. This was a good fantasy season, but not a great one. What gives?
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When it came to draft time back in August, Mahomes was easily the first quarterback off the board in most leagues. He was coming off a 5,000-yard passing season and 50 touchdown passes in 2018. Mahomes gave us arguably the greatest single-season out of an NFL quarterback to date. While the regression was expected, he may not have been worth the top-20 pick in fantasy.
While Mahomes was a tremendously steady and consistent player for the Chiefs, missing two starts and a good chunk of a third game knocked his stats down a bit. Throwing for over 4,000 yards with an 11-3 record as a starter is terrific, but not getting over the 30-touchdown threshold might have hurt you in fantasy more than you realize.
Mahomes is a no-doubt QB1 you have to start every week he’s healthy for fantasy purposes. He can do things with the football mere mortals can dream of. He rarely plays a bad game. However, Mahomes wasn’t the reason you won your fantasy league this season, as he did during his breakout NFL MVP campaign in 2018. It was a good year, but you did draft him at a premium.
So where should we expect Mahomes to be as a fantasy player in year four in the league and in year three as the Chiefs starting quarterback in Andy Reid’s offense? Given his consistency and his out-of-this-world attributes, Mahomes should be at worst a QB5 next year. He can be the first quarterback off the board again, but 2019 was proof he may not be first-round fantasy value.