Are fantasy managers chasing the ‘ghost' of Patrick Mahomes?

Yahoo

6 days ago

Yahoo Sports fantasy analyst Matt Harmon and Rich Hribar of Sharp Football discuss the Chiefs quarterback's declining fantasy numbers and why - despite being the game's top signal caller - he may not be able to produce the monster stats that managers are used to. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
He hasn't been good throwing down the field; some of the plays that we talked about, Xavier Worthy were on Mahomes.
Like, yeah, 100%.
So, like, when you look at Mahomes' downfield passing the past two years, he's been horrendous; he's been at the bottom of the league, like, in throws over 10 yards downfield in terms of accuracy.
And like, that's not the player that he was early in his career, but what if we are always constantly chasing that ghost with Patrick Mahomes, right?
And Patrick Mahomes, from a talent perspective, I mean, I'm not tearing down Patrick Mahomes as a player, he's QB1 in the NFL by a mile.
Like, think of all the issues the Chiefs have had in reality, and he's still going to the Super Bowl every year.
Like, I'm talking about just from like a fantasy upside stance.
What if we're consistently chasing attachment to prime Tyreek Hill and prime Travis Kelce and we just never have that intersection again?
100%, yeah, I like that; to me, that just can't be true, right?
Like, it can't be what happens, but if you look, just look at explosive play rate, the last two seasons.
It goes, Patriots right from the bottom, Patriots, Raiders, Giants, Jets, Panthers, Browns, Chiefs, like that's the category the Kansas City Chiefs are keeping, and yet that is, that's where it's been.
And it felt like that.
Like they saw man coverage at one of the highest rates in the NFL last year, like teams weren't scared of their receivers, you know, and maybe that changes, like you said, if worthy is the lid lifter, and you get more, but the middle of the field open stuff is actually decreased.
They're one of the teams that were kind of at the forefront of why this all started, and now it's ironically like they're struggling to beat the, where we're back to square one; they're struggling to beat the stuff that we want the offenses to get, and until that happens, I mean, we're, we'll continue to see those issues.
And I do think that it's a question mark, because Xavier Worthy, as fast as a football player he is, he had these issues in Texas, like winning one-on-one downfield.
In a straight line, he's faster than everyone, but like route nuance and beating press, like, this is something he has not answered as a player yet.
He has not answered these things.
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