Stunning: “How Patrick Mahomes Will Shatter Passing Records in 2024: You Won’t Believe the Breakdown!”

2024 will open a new era for the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense. With quarterback Patrick Mahomes as the starter, the team has been through two phases of playmakers surrounding tight end Travis Kelce: four seasons with star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, followed by a two-year stretch where the unit had to overcome below-average receivers

This third phase will feature big-play threats like Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy while getting reliable production from Kelce and wideout Rashee Rice.

To see how Mahomes’ passing yardage could be distributed with the new group, we took his average yardage per game over the last five seasons and then multiplied that figure by the 17 games of the regular season, That gives us 4,960 yards.

Let’s see how we project Kansas City’s pass-catchers will divide those yards:

Now that it seems less likely that Rice will serve an NFL suspension this season, he has a clear path to becoming the team’s 2024 leader in targets receptions and yards.

In 2023, Rice proved he can produce just like Kelce has for many years. He should be able to take more plays off the aging tight end’s plate — and there have been no signs Mahomes has an issue with that. He and Rice quickly got on the same page last year, and that has only grown in looks at training camp this summer.

Despite still totaling 938 yards and leading the team in touchdown catches (7) last season, Rice still has more skills to demonstrate. His chemistry with Mahomes should lead to more downfield opportunities for Rice to get jump balls in single coverage.

As the primary outside threat, Brown will push to lead the team in receiving yards. Just like former Kansas City wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling, he will run many routes to the intermediate and deep portions of the field — but be more productive while doing it.

During Sunday’s practice, Brown was on the receiving end of two bombs from Mahomes, each coming on a different route. But Brown can also make big plays after the catch; he can be much more effective on quick screens or slants than his predecessor.

He will not be the only one who will help restore Kansas City’s deep passing attack — but over 17 games, his experience and underappreciated talent will add up.

Last year, Kelce dealt with an injury just before Week 1. It caused him to miss that game — and may have affected him for the rest of the regular season. He also missed Week 18 — and still ended up only 16 receiving yards short of another 1,000-yard season.

It seems ridiculous to project Kelce to miss 1,000 yards again, but last year proved that the regular-season mark is meaningless. As long as the tight end is available for the offense when it matters most, it’s not as crucial for him to produce at an elite level from September through December.

So there is reason to spell Kelce with teammates even more this season. Rice — and others — will be able to make similar plays over the middle and on the run.
While this rookie receiver is stepping into a room full of playmakers, he deserved his first-round selection. It will be impossible to keep his talent off the field. We should expect big plays from the former Texas wideout.

But he will still be a rookie. Let’s look back at what wide receiver Mecole Hardman produced during his rookie season behind Hill, Kelce and veteran receiver Sammy Watkins. Hardman collected 538 yards at an absurd clip of 20.7 yards per reception.

While I can see Worthy making highlight-reel plays (as Hardman did in 2019), the Chiefs have so many ways to attack defenses that it will be hard for him to get many more yards than Hardman did as a rookie.