SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Patrick Mahomes is the NFL’s most talented quarterback — and he needs help. Desperately. Emphatically. Immediately.
As the Kansas City Chiefs seek to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, the only option is to make a trade.
Although the league’s trade deadline is on Election Day, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. CT, the Chiefs’ top leaders — club owner Clark Hunt, coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach — need to make a move well ahead of the deadline, maybe by the time you’re reading this.
Yes, the Chiefs are the league’s lone undefeated team with a 6-0 record after Sunday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers, a rematch of Super Bowl LVIII that was more gritty than the glitzy comeback Mahomes orchestrated in Las Vegas on the sport’s grandest stage.
Mahomes, though, doesn’t have his top three wide receivers — veteran newcomer Marquise Brown (left shoulder), rising star Rashee Rice (right knee) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (right hamstring), who rejoined the team in late August. In the middle of the first quarter Sunday, Smith-Schuster aggravated a hamstring injury and missed the rest of the game. Reid shared Monday that the Chiefs have already ruled Smith-Schuster out for their next game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
For the first time in his eight-year career, Mahomes has led the Chiefs to a 6-0 start, which is a testament to his moxie and mettle. But given the losses at receiver, ask yourself this: How much longer can Mahomes stabilize the Chiefs’ passing attack?
OK, the Chiefs can beat the Raiders without making a trade. For sure. But the competition in the AFC will get tougher as the weather gets colder. Also, look at how weird Mahomes’ passing statistics are through six games — just six touchdowns, a league-leading eight interceptions and an 82.5 passer rating, the lowest of his career as a starter.
Mahomes needs help. Among the skill-position players who are healthy, Mahomes most trusts tight ends Travis Kelce and Noah Gray, who for the first time in his four-year career led the Chiefs in receiving yards with 66 against the 49ers. The Chiefs’ leading wide receiver Sunday was rookie speedster Xavier Worthy, who had three repetitions on eight targets for 19 yards.
PICK! Deommodore Lenoir gets the ball back for the @49ers!
📺: #KCvsSF on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/Nw0sHAw8cK— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024
Mahomes was heroic in the second half. He escaped the pocket several times to avoid sacks, he showed elite athleticism on his career-long 33-yard scramble along the sideline and he rescued the Chiefs offense on a fourth-and-goal snap by trucking 49ers safety rookie Malik Mustapha for a 1-yard touchdown run.
Fans of every other NFL team must be shouting to themselves, like Jesse Pinkman in “Breaking Bad,” “He can’t keep getting away with this!”
The truth is Mahomes can’t. We all saw what happened in Super Bowl LV when Mahomes tried his best to be a wizard behind a makeshift offensive line, the result of multiple injuries that season. The Chiefs failed to score a touchdown. The constant pressure from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stellar pass rushers forced Mahomes to scramble repeatedly — running for a total of 497 yards before he released the ball, the most pre-throw and pre-sack yards run by any quarterback in any game that season, according to Next Gen Stats.
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This time around, Mahomes doesn’t need outstanding coverage from the AFC’s top contenders to be the reason he’s scrambling and taking unnecessary hits that put his health in jeopardy.
Consider this: If the Chiefs don’t make a trade this week, Mahomes will enter the huddle with a group of receivers — Worthy, Justin Watson, Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore — who have combined to generate 27 receptions for 343 yards and two touchdowns. Heck, even left tackle Wanya Morris has better receiving statistics this season (one reception for a 1-yard touchdown) than Moore, who has yet to record a reception but has two dropped passes.
📂 Mahomes things pic.twitter.com/RBUfTKmOaa
— NFL (@NFL) October 20, 2024
The best option for the Chiefs on the trade market appears to be Diontae Johnson, the Carolina Panthers receiver who leads his team with 30 receptions on 58 targets for 357 yards and three touchdowns. Johnson, 5 feet 10 and 183 pounds, is also the type of fast receiver Reid loves. Johnson can separate from coverage with his routes, and at age 28, he is set to become a free agent in the offseason. If the Chiefs acquire Johnson, he’ll be motivated to perform at his best, especially in the postseason, to maximize his earning potential.
Another option is Darius Slayton, the New York Giants receiver who has 25 receptions on 40 targets for 312 yards and one touchdown. Slayton, 27, is one of the league’s most underrated receivers. He has averaged 14.8 yards per catch.
Of course, there are other options — DeAndre Hopkins (Titans), Christian Kirk (Jaguars), Demarcus Robinson (Rams), Tutu Atwell (Rams) and Adam Thielen (Panthers).
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Whoever the Chiefs believe is the most talented receiver is the one they need to acquire. If necessary to seal a deal, use a 2025 third-round pick, similar to what it took last week for the Buffalo Bills to acquire Amari Cooper and the New York Jets to acquire Davante Adams. The Chiefs have two 2025 third-round picks, including one they received from the Tennessee Titans for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.
First there was Wasp, now there’s Corn Dog. 🌭
Andy Reid dialed up a wide open Kadarius Toney. @0fficialC2N pic.twitter.com/0U9EjmCdzl
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) February 16, 2023
A trade will help the Chiefs offense be as potent as possible ahead of the postseason and increase the margin of error for Mahomes.
Two years ago, the Chiefs made a trade with the Giants for receiver Kadarius Toney. Although the trade wasn’t an overwhelming success, Toney did his part to help the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. He produced a 50-yard punt return, the longest in Super Bowl history, and scored a touchdown. Last year, the Chiefs made a small move ahead of the deadline in a trade with the Jets for Mecole Hardman, the receiver who scored the walk-off touchdown in Super Bowl LVIII.
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After his first season with the Chiefs, Toney called Reid the smartest coach in the league.
“I’m surrounded by the MVP (Mahomes) and the top tight end (Kelce) in the league,” Toney said then.
The Chiefs don’t need a superstar receiver. Mahomes has proved he can win championships without one. Mahomes does, however, need another motivated, viable and reliable receiver to help him propel the Chiefs to a summit no NFL team has reached.
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)