Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs participates in a drill during minicamp on June 17, 2025. … More
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On the very first team sequence of the very first day of Patrick Mahomes’ ninth training camp, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback connected with wide receiver Xavier Worthy on a deep shot down the sideline.
“That’s what we’ve got to do,” Mahomes said. “The mindset is getting back to throwing the ball down the field, and if we can do that, it will open up the rest of the offense.”
That first play of 7-on-7 drills was a symbolic start because the deep passing game has been a point of emphasis for the Chiefs.
Mahomes’ yards-per-attempt were above 8.0 during four of his first five years as a starting quarterback, but it dropped to 6.8 yards in 2024, and that served as the lowest mark of his career.
It should help having wide receivers Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Rashee Rice back.
Brown, who signed a one-year, $7 million contract following last year’s one-year deal, was one of the glitzy, new acquisitions last offseason. But a shoulder injury suffered in the very first preseason game limited him to just two regular-season games and nine catches for 91 yards.
Mahomes saw glimpses of what Brown, who ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at Oklahoma’s Pro Day in 2019, can do to stretch the field and said he’s excited to have him for longer this season.
“At the end of last year,” Mahomes said, “he made some plays.”
Rice was the focal point of last year’s passing offense before a knee injury suffered in Week Four ended his season.
Rice is back practicing, but the rub is that he just received a sentence of five years probation and 30 days of jail for his multi-car crash in Dallas during May in 2024 when he was traveling at 119 mph in his Lamborghini.
Now that he has received his legal punishment, it is likely that the NFL will hand out a suspension sometime this season.
“You can’t worry about stuff that’s going to happen down the line,” Mahomes said. “All that stuff will handle itself.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs are a motivated squad, following the way last season ended. The Philadelphia Eagles thwarted the Chiefs’ hopes for a three-peat, pummeling them 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX, and the game was even more out of hand than that final score indicates.
“Obviously, we didn’t play the way we wanted to play on a national stage,” Mahomes said. “When you get beat like that, everyone knows you’ve got to be better.”
But there was one silver lining in that drubbing — the play of Worthy, who had eight catches for 157 and two touchdowns.
Worthy’s final touchdown — a 50-yard reception with 1:48 left to play — came against the Eagles’ backups, but it demonstrated a sign of what the Chiefs want to establish in 2025.
“It kind of just showed,” Worthy said, “what’s here to come in the future.”
Fast forward to the very first training camp play, and it’s clear the deep ball is the focal point for Mahomes this year.
“I got to be better at throwing the ball down the field,” Mahomes said. “If teams are going to challenge us at the line of scrimmage, if teams are going to challenge us to throw the ball deep, we have to show that we can do that.”
