The NFL is full of players who are physical freaks. Wide receivers who flash at 4.4 seconds for the 40-yard dash. Muscled-up running backs and linebackers who constantly meet in violent collisions as they try to destroy each other. Defensive backs who run as fast and occasionally hit just as hard as the linebackers and backs. It’s a dangerous world between the lines, and it’s often not safe for those whose athletic skills don’t quite measure up.
But some superstars have skills that aren’t as visible. The ability to dodge a pass rush. The intelligence to set protections and call plays to help protect themselves and make plays. And finally, in the case of Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes, there’s the dreaded “dad bod.”
Patrick Mahomes can still run people over and joke about it
Mahomes clearly enjoyed talking about the value of his so-called “dad bod” as he tried to lower his shoulder and ended up running over San Francisco safety Malik Mustapha in Kansas City’s victory over the 49ers last week. But the play is actually yet another measuring stick for the constant adjustments the Chiefs quarterback has made to make his game even more lethal.
The quarterback is no longer the wild man who spent the Super Bowl running for his life against Tampa Bay’s pass rush back in 2021. He learned a valuable lesson in that game: Making highlight reel plays can be all kinds of fun, but it’s a tough way to bring home multiple trophies.
Slowly, the Kansas City quarterback changed his game. He mostly dinked-and-dunked his way to yet another championship last year, despite a motley collection of butter-finger receivers who seemed to specialize in dropping key throws.
This year his receivers are just as suspect, but Mahomes is winning games with both his mind and his dad bod. He knows when to lower his shoulder to make a play, just as he knows that endlessly circling backward to find an open receiver often comes with consequences.
How he picks his spots
It’s fair to ask how Mahomes knows when to do this, and the answer to this question is more complicated than it seems. As he approaches 30, Mahomes has earned a PhD in situational football, to the point where he’s able to play out the game mentally so he knows when to pull an incredible play out of his hip pocket.
He’s also aware that time has taken a toll. Mahomes is listed at 6’2”, 225, and he understands that time has thickened his body a little. He knows this come with advantages and disadvantages—the extra weight helps him survive brutal hits, but he’s also sacrificed a little of the speed that made him nearly uncatchable several years ago.
His game was never based on pure speed, though. Mahomes understands angles and the geometry of a given play better than any quarterback in the game, and he knows that his quickness makes him far more dangerous than raw foot speed. He’s almost always under control when he throws now, and he understands the value of a throwaway.
Andy Reid plays a pivotal role in Mahomes’ game as well
Talking about the changes in Patrick Mahomes game is almost impossible without discussing Andy Reid’s role in the Chiefs offense. Reid has a reputation as a wild man in his own right when it comes to designing daring plays, but if you examine them more closely, they’re nearly all designed to take advantage of his quarterback’s unique skill set.
Reid’s role also extends to roster management. Both Reid and GM Brett Veach went into this season understanding that their wide receiving corps was still underwhelming, and they also knew that Travis Kelce couldn’t continue to carry the entire passing game.
Great teams always have a great plan, and the Chiefs are the epitome of that. Rasheed Rice took on the receiving load early on, but when he got hurt they traded for DeAndre Hopkins, whose talents are being largely wasted on a mediocre Tennessee team. That move gives the Chiefs quarterback a veteran wideout who can process the game at a high level and make plays, and it will also allow Mahomes to save his dad bod for those pivotal moments when he needs it most.