Analyst Reveals What Separates Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes From Other Top QBs originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
With the NFL rankings for quarterbacks coming out recently, Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is still No. 1, despite a couple of down seasons.
Granted, the Chiefs won a Super Bowl and went to another, Mahomes’s stats aren’t the usual ones we’ve seen from him, posting lower passing yards and touchdown totals while the interceptions have been double-digits for the past four years.
Some have Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson and even Joe Burrow above Mahomes when it comes to the best quarterback in football, but ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky has detailed exactly what makes Kansas City’s quarterback better than his rivals.
“The gap has never been this ridiculously big gap when it comes to Patrick, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s GetUp. “All three of those guys had better seasons last year than Patrick did, yes. But there is the reality that Patrick, not once, not twice, but three or four times, has played his absolute best when it’s been needed the most.”
“Those other three guys haven’t necessarily done that. And so, is Patrick the best at the position? He’s still the top dog when it comes to you got to go be your very best when it’s needed the most. When it comes to the ability to play, those guys have always been kind of nipping at his heels.”
We can’t argue with that.
Plus, in 2023, Mahomes, in the playoffs, went into Highmark Stadium in Buffalo and beat Allen, and then in the AFC Championship game, rolled into Baltimore and beat Jackson.
Then we add in that Mahomes beat Allen again in 2024 in the playoffs (4-0 vs. Allen in the postseason), so that gives further credence to Orlovsky’s thoughts on the Chiefs’ signal caller being No. 1.
When push comes to shove, he gets it done, while the others haven’t.
It is really as simple as that, and until the chasing pack do it, or Mahomes falters in the big moments, the NFL’s top dog will always reside in Kansas City.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
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