The Kansas City Chiefs may have lost Tyreek Hill during the offseason, but Patrick Mahomes knows the offense will remain as one of the league’s best in 2022.
The reason? It’s simple: the offensive line. The Chiefs starting front five has been on a tear through limited action in the first two preseason games.
And while yes, it’s still preseason, it’s hard to to come away unimpressed with the results the 1s have produced.
Mahomes and co. have been on the field for three drives. The result? Three touchdowns.
While Mahomes has looked great in his own right, it has been the offensive line paving the way for good things to happen.
And that fact is not lost on Mahomes. At all.
“The offensive line played tremendous today,” Mahomes told reporters after the game. “That’s the first thing I talked about when I came to the sideline after that second drive. That’s a really good defensive line and they blocked and gave me a ton of time.
“… The pockets were amazing … and I mean, if they block like that, we’re going to be a hard offense to stop. Because when you have that much time in the pocket, good things usually happen.”
Outside of some change at the right tackle position (but even then there is familiarity with Andrew Wylie), this will be the second straight year the starters on the offensive line go to battle with each other.
All of the reps and chemistry in 2021 are bound to make the unit better in 2022, which is a scary thought for opposing defenses.
“Those guys have played a lot of football together, now,” said Mahomes. “They’re going to keep building more and more chemistry and there’s a lot of talent.
You see that confidence in the young guys last year and then you add guys like Orlando [Brown Jr.] and Joe Thuney and [Andrew] Wylie who’s played a lot of football games in big moments for us.
“We have a good offensive line that’s all gelling together … It’s nice when you’re a quarterback and you have a really, really, really good offensive line. Hopefully that’s a focal point of our team this year.”
The one area that’s hard to evaluate when it comes to the offensive line, however, is the running game.
Chiefs running backs have managed to gain just a combined 19-yards on nine combined carries over the three drives in which the 1s have been on the field.
At the same time, two of those carries were 3rd and 1 situations in which the offense converted. But still, only three of the seven carries have seen gains of four yards or more.
The running game may not be needed outside of short yardage situations if the pass protection is this good, though.
Regardless, there’s already enough attention on Mahomes and his weapons. If the focal point ends up becoming the offensive line like Mahomes desires, well, let’s just say the Chiefs offense won’t be hard to stop, it’ll be nearly impossible to stop.
You can watch Mahomes’ full presser below:
