3 Chiefs who need to better help Patrick Mahomes for a Super Bowl repeat
Every year the Kansas City Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes, they will be one of the Super Bowl favorites. Just as the New England Patriots were expected to win every single season they had Tom Brady under center, the bar is as high as possible for Kansas City as the defending champions.
No quarterback, as brilliant as they may be, can win a Super Bowl ring without a strong supporting cast. Juxtapose Brady's consistent winning in Foxboro with Aaron Rodgers' annual near-misses in Green Bay, and you can see how important it is for a franchise quarterback to receive great help and coaching. Because "just good enough" doesn't quite cut it when it comes to winning a Super Bowl; a franchise quarterback needs their franchise to exude that same greatness.
This season, the Chiefs have shown that they are capable of winning it all in 2024, starting the season with a 5-1 record that tops anyone else in the AFC. However, the NFC boasts two undefeated juggernauts in the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, meaning the Chiefs' margin for error once they get to the Super Bowl could be asymptotically zero. Indeed, that was the case last season when Kansas City survived Andy Reid's former team, the Eagles, in a 38-35 instant classic.
Although the Chiefs have been impressive to start the season, they haven't been perfect. Let's take a look at three players on the Kansas City roster who could step up a bit more to help support Mahomes and the team, answering lingering question marks regarding the Chiefs' status as the unquestioned best team in the NFL.
3. WR Kadarius Toney
The 20th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Kadarius Toney earned a reputation at Florida as one of the most dynamic offensive threats in the country, capable of turning any ordinary two-yard dump-off into a SportsCenter highlight. Toney wasn't much of a factor in his first season in the NFL with the New York Giants, and he didn't play much of a role in Kansas City after the Chiefs traded for him at the beginning of the 2022 season.
However, Toney showed his game-changing qualities in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs wouldn't have won the game without him. Not only did he break a Super Bowl record by taking a punt 65 yards to the house, but he also caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to pull his team ahead of Philadelphia, giving them their first lead of the night -- a lead they would not relinquish.
Despite his importance in that game, Toney is, once again, being met with criticism for not making enough of an impact in 2023. The statistics are alarmingly poor. Toney is averaging a meager 5.4 yards per reception. With a catch rate of 68 percent, his average of 3.7 yards per target means that the Chiefs would be better off running the ball on a per-play average than throwing it in his direction. Only 40 percent of passes in his direction end up being a "successful" play for the offense, indicating he may even be a liability to the team if even half of the targets involving him are unsuccessful.
Nobody can argue against Toney's talent or his potential to be a star player for the Chiefs. But now that he is in his third season in the NFL, which is usually a breakout campaign for developing wide receivers, there will be less room for patience. Perhaps Andy Reid can get more out of Toney by using him on more aggressive passing routes, but the draw with Toney was his ability to turn simple, get-out-of-trouble passes into big gains that keep defenses honest. On that front, it is Toney himself who needs to step up.