Patrick Mahomes is diplomatic, but receivers’ drops are costing the Chiefs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As a trio, coach Andy Reid, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and quarterback Patrick Mahomes have elected to be diplomatic, choosing to not publicly criticize the position group that has most impeded the progress of the Kansas City Chiefs offense: the receivers.
“Guys that I’ve seen catch before didn’t necessarily make the catch,” Reid said late Monday night of his receivers after the Chiefs’ 21-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles . “These are good players. We’re OK. We’ve just got to get that straight.”
The concern, however, is that the Chiefs have just seven games left in the regular season to correct an issue that is fundamental to the receiving position: catching the ball.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the offense’s performance against the Eagles is that Mahomes watched five of his passes, including two of his most impressive, fall incomplete because they were dropped. Ten games into the season, the Chiefs have a 7-3 record but also lead the league with 26 drops.
Trailing the Eagles by four points with less than two minutes left, Mahomes unleashed his best deep pass of the season, a gorgeous throw that traversed 46 yards in the air. Receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling , a six-year veteran known for his speed, was just feet away from the end zone and sprinting away from the Eagles’ last defender, cornerback Bradley Roby , when the ball arrived in his hands. But Valdes-Scantling dropped the pass, costing the Chiefs a potential game-winning, 51-yard touchdown.
Mahomes, though, blamed himself after the game, criticizing himself instead of Valdes-Scantling to explain why the pass was incomplete.
“They triple-team (tight end) Travis (Kelce), so I went to the guy that won downfield,” Mahomes said. “Marquez won, but he just didn’t come away with the ball. I could probably throw it a little bit shorter. He was that open.”
Another drop for the on this drive pic.twitter.com/E5D6IOOLCX— NFL UK November 21, 2023
Three plays later, Mahomes threw another exceptional deep pass, this one on a fourth-and-25 snap. Once again, Reid and Nagy, in a collaborative effort, selected the right play call for the situation. Mahomes found Justin Watson , a six-year receiver, open against the Eagles’ zone coverage. But the ball went through Watson’s hands.
“They know I’m going to keep firing it,” Mahomes said of his receivers. “That’s just who I am. I’m going to fire it to the guy who’s open. Usually, they’re going to make the plays.”
Each of the Chiefs’ three losses has included at least one pivotal play where a receiver dropped an accurate pass from Mahomes.
In the season-opening loss to the Detroit Lions , Kadarius Toney , perhaps the Chiefs’ most dynamic receiver, dropped four catchable passes, including one that went through his hands and directly to rookie safety Brian Branch , who returned the interception 50 yards for a momentum-swinging touchdown. The following Monday, when the Chiefs returned to their training facility, Toney apologized to his teammates, in particular Reid and Mahomes.
“There’s no excuse,” Toney said then. “There’s nothing you can blame it on.”
On Oct. 29, second-year receiver Skyy Moore dropped a perfect pass from Mahomes on fourth-and-2 in the end zone, a catch that would’ve been a 26-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to trim the Denver Broncos’ lead to five points. The Chiefs went on to lose, snapping their 16-game winning streak over their divisional rival.
Similar to Valdes-Scantling’s drop against the Eagles, Mahomes showed his frustration by grimacing while grabbing his helmet with both hands.
“Skyy Moore is going to take heat for dropping the ball,” Reid said the next day. “Well, when you look at it on tape, you see that his inside arm was dragged down away from the ball (by safety P.J. Locke ). The officials are human. They do a good job. Sometimes it’s hard to see everything. That’s a tough, tough deal.”
Beyond a lack of concentration from the receivers and Kelce, who has five drops, many of the drops have occurred when the pass catcher anticipates getting hit by a defender, often when the opposing defense is in zone coverage, which has happened on 69.6 percent on Mahomes’ attempts, according to TruMedia and Pro Football Focus.
But every practice for the Chiefs starts with the same drill, one that is designed to prepare the receivers for such moments. The drill requires the receivers to execute skills other than speed — quickness, soft hands and concentration. Each receiver runs a 5-yard hitch route that forces him to come back to the ball between two pop-up dummies. Next to each dummy is an assistant — passing game coordinator Joe Bleymaier and statistical analysis coordinator Mike Frazier — with a pad similar to a pugil stick in their hands. As receivers coach Connor Embree passes the ball to the receiver, Bleymaier and Frazier attempt to dislodge the ball with their padded stick.
Against the Eagles, Watson led the Chiefs with two drops, both coming in the middle of the field, each play ending with a defender nearby and ready to make contact once the ball arrived.
One reason the Chiefs are ranked last in scoring in the second half, averaging just 5.3 points, is because 16 of their 26 drops have come after halftime.
Before the season began, Reid, Nagy and Mahomes anticipated in training camp the next major strategic trend they would have to overcome: Opposing defenses starting to zig to more conventional coverage, a mission to clog the short and intermediate passing windows for Mahomes. The Chiefs knew what their response would need to be, too: Mahomes and his receivers making opposing defenses pay with downfield highlights.
The Chiefs’ last two opponents, the Miami Dolphins and the Eagles, did just that, lining their safeties up just 10 or 12 yards away from the line of scrimmage. This season, the Chiefs haven’t forced the defense to adjust its coverage because Mahomes hasn’t connected on a single deep pass — going 0-for-9 with three interceptions — when the ball has traveled at least 35 yards in the air, according to TruMedia.
The teammate Mahomes has targeted the most on those passes (four) is Valdes-Scantling.
“Production-wise, he’s not where he was last year,” Nagy said Tuesday of Valdes-Scantling, who has recorded just 14 receptions on 27 targets for 249 yards and a touchdown. “We do know that we have hopefully a bunch of season left, and we want to be able to continue to keep working through these things. He’s had a great attitude this whole time and we’ve just got to keep staying positive.”
Valdes-Scantling wasn’t available to speak with reporters after Monday’s game, but, on Tuesday morning, he posted his thoughts on social media: “I’m grateful, I’ll be better. And I appreciate the criticism and the support. God put this on me because he knew I could handle it. Gratitude for everything that comes with it.”
A reasonable theory to help explain the Chiefs’ issues with drops is that Reid and Nagy haven’t shortened their rotation of receivers playing a healthy number of snaps.
The six receivers who were in uniform against the Eagles — Valdes-Scantling, Watson, Toney, Moore, Mecole Hardman and rookie Rashee Rice — all played at least 16 snaps. Next week, against the Las Vegas Raiders , the Chiefs could add a seventh receiver to the rotation: Richie James , a six-year veteran who is returning from a knee injury.
“That’s a part of the learning experience,” Embree said last week. “Most of the guys in this room, they’ve played every snap their whole life. They’ve always been the best guy out there and never off the field.
“You have to learn, ‘Hey, this game I might get 15 reps, then next game I might get 40.’ You just have to be locked in, know what you’re doing, know what role we have for you in the game. Then when the play comes for you to make it, you have to make it.”
(Photo of Marquez Valdes-Scantling: Scott Winters / Icon Sportswire via )
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