Despite injury and a tough season, Mahomes' elite play lands him among the NFL's top MVP contenders, defying expectations.
The Kansas City Chiefs missed the playoffs in a frustrating 2025 season. It was capped off by superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffering a torn ACL in December.
Mahomes plans and hopes to be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season, although it is a long road to recovery for the signal-caller.
Despite the down year for Kansas City, Mahomes finished with 3,587 yards, 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while adding 422 yards and five scores on the ground.
Seemingly every year, Mahomes' name is tossed around in NFL MVP discussions, and so far, the Chiefs QB has two MVP awards and three Super Bowl MVP awards.
Seth Walder of ESPN listed 100 players on his lengthy NFL MVP list, and Mahomes landed at No. 6 on the list despite a rough year for the team.
Here's some of what Walder wrote about this selection.
"This was a down year for Mahomes, but he was still one of NFL's the most valuable players given the importance of the position he plays and his relative efficiency. Mahomes finished the season ranked sixth in QBR and fifth in points above average despite missing the last three games after tearing his ACL and LCL on Dec. 14," Walder wrote.
Those are impressive stats, although his accuracy number was down a bit. One notable development for Mahomes was the fact that he overcame a ton of injuries to the offense, and the wide receiver group was banged up and Rashee Rice was suspended for the first six games of. the season also.
"Mahomes also had to overcome his receivers group. Kansas City's team receiver score -- based on player tracking metrics that evaluate each receiver's ability to get open, make the catch and generate YAC relative to expectations on each play -- for its wide receivers and tight ends was a 32 on a scale of 0-99, the third-worst mark in the league. Mahomes suffered a 7.6% drop rate, also third worst. He also faced light boxes 76% of the time, the fourth-highest rate among quarterbacks," Walder added.
Those stats are not something to be taken lightly when discussing the NFL MVP. Yes, the Chiefs didn't make the playoffs, and four of the other five players ahead of him all played or are still playing in the postseason.
Here is Walder's top five on the NFL MVP list.
- Drake Maye, QB, New England Patriots
- Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys
- Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams
- Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills
- Jordan Love, QB, Green Bay Packers
Mahomes did a lot with a flurry of injuries this year, and the offensive line also was banged up time and time again, it makes it even that much more impressive.
Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was at No. 25 on Walder's list after he had a strong season and was a key part of the success of the defense.