Will Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid ‘Come Out Firing’ in 2024?

The Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive performance last season wasn’t up to the usual standard, but now with two new weapons, will the unit led by Patrick Mahomes again be one of the best in football?

What made the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl triumph so incredible last season was that it was done with an offense, led by Patrick Mahomes, that was slightly above average, not great.

With only Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice as the main targets for Mahomes, the Chiefs lost the most regular season games (6) in Mahomes’ tenure and had to go on the road in the postseason (Buffalo and Baltimore) to get to the Super Bowl. Well, they slayed both and won their third Super Bowl in five years.

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Part of the reason the Chiefs’ offense wasn’t as potent as usual (21.8/g, ranked 14th) was that no other receivers stepped up aside from Kelce (984 yards) and Rice (938 yards), with the next best being Justin Watson (460 yards). That is quite the drop-off.

But NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice is predicting a vastly different offense in 2024.

“Following an uneven 2023 regular season that saw Mahomes finish outside the top five in passing yards and passing touchdowns — and inherently had the Chiefs rank 14th at 21.0 offensive ppg — I have a feeling Andy Reid will come out firing in 2024,” Filice writes.

In Mahomes’ tenure, the Chiefs offense has ranked 1st in 2018, 5th in 2019, 6th in 2020,  4th in 2021, and 1st in 2022, before the big drop-off last season.

One can easily suspect that the Chiefs won’t be as “bad” as last season. With Marquise Brown and Xavier Worthy added in the offseason, Kansas City knew its weakness and went about rectifying it.

It is easy to envision the Chiefs offense “coming out firing” as Filice states, but the opening two regular season games against the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals will both be tough outings to start the year.

If Mahomes and the Chiefs come out of the gate hot and blow away two of their AFC challengers, then it will send an ominous warning shot to the rest of the NFL – Kansas City’s high-octane offense is back.