Downs Trade Was Made To Help Mahomes As Primary Goal

The Kansas City Chiefs just made a deal for receiver Josh Downs, and it’s designed to help their offense. According to Jesse Newell of The Athletic, though, there’s a lot more going on, and he thinks it’s specifically designed to make quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ life easier in the passing game. 

It makes sense, because as Newell noted, Mahomes is “going through a lot" right now. He made a historic recovery from knee surgery that was remarkably fast, and he also suffered an elbow injury against the New York Jets on Sunday that’s going to make him more limited when the Chiefs play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. 

The receivers have been a problem, too. They can’t get open, and Kansas City has had injury issues as well. Xavier Worthy sustained a hamstring injury in the same game that could affect his short-term outlook. 

Downs has the ability to give the Chiefs just what they need, per Newell. He has what the writer called quick-twitch speed and the ability to beat man coverage, which should give Mahomes another option on short and intermediate routes. 

But Newell also thinks that Downs won’t address the Chiefs biggest  issue, which is needing a burner who can stretch the field and catch deep passes of at least 20 yards. Tyquan Thornton was starting to do that, but the Chiefs’ fastest receiver dislocated his ankle in Week for and won’t be back until near the end of the season in the best-case scenario. 

Downs isn’t a deep threat, which means the Chiefs are doubling down on a unique game plan that will have them leaning into the short passing game even more. 

Reid has made this work before, in part by using the screen game more. He’s been doing that more with running back Kenneth Walker III, and the idea is to get the ball out as quickly as possible. 

The Chiefs are in the top ten in multiple key offensive categories, so there’s a strong case to be made for what Reid is doing. He thinks the Chefs are playing what he called “pretty good football” if you eliminate some of the penalties, which has been an issue for the Chiefs since last season. 

The coach also sees the team as being in good position, which is also true. The Chiefs are back to winning games, and they’ve come a long way from where the were at the end of last season as Reid continues to try and pull off this offensive high-wire act.