Laddie Morse
Back in the day, even before there was a “Hail Mary” heave at the end of an NFL game, we used to talk about “Haymakers.” For the purposes of this piece, I will be considering any QB, and/or WR, who can go long… as a Haymaker. Haymakers can also be Playmakers, but I’m referring to those players, as those who can dominate the middle of the field. They will be considered… Playmakers. Thus: Patrick Mahomes, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brow are Haymakers while Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice are the 2024 Chiefs primary Playmakers.
Venerable veteran NFL Haymakers of note included: Johnny Unitas, Roman Gabriel, Norm Van Brocklin, Len Dawson, Daryle Lamonica, and Bart Starr as well as many others. The term “Hail Mary” goes back nearly 100 years, but for this piece I’m referring to Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson making it popular in 1975… and any QB’s who had a big arm prior to that time.
Sure, we have had some great long ball passers not mentioned here. Guys like Dan Marino, John Elway, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Joe Montana and again, many more. However, this piece is about a certain definition and the Haymakers I’m referring to here go back before the days of Roger-the-dodger. Is Patrick Mahomes like one of those old time Haymakers? Absolutely!
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Haymakers
Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes has proven himself to be the best Haymaker in the league today. Mahomes is, “throw it out of the stadium” good. In Mahomes first four seasons as a starter (with Tyreek Hill on the roster) he averaged over 80 yards on his deepest passes. Mahomes longest passes in in those years were: 89. 83, 75 and 75. However, the last two years that number has fallen to 67 yards (that’s also the average) as his longest throws… in both seasons. Yet, he still won the Super Bowl throwing to these receivers: Rashee Rice, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman, Richie James, Marquez Valdez-Scantling, Justin Watson, and Kadarius Toney.
StatMuse.com offers this summary of Patrick Mahomes first year as a starter in 2018:
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“Patrick Mahomes had a passer rating of 113.8 with
5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns and 12 interceptions
in 16 games in 2018. He was selected to play in his
first Pro Bowl. He won his first Offensive Player of
the Year award and his first MVP award.”
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Hollywood Brown
Hollywood Brown may not be on the active roster this week, but when he does return, he will provide the Chiefs something they haven’t had since Tyreek Hill was in town: a speedy playmaker and a deep threat. Brown runs a 4.27 – 40 yard dash, if you’ve somehow forgotten. While his stats have suffered the last couple of years that is due to the QB and scheme he was playing under. With Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes drawing up the plays, Brown should turn the green grass of the NFL a very hot red.
Here’s a video of Marquise Brown called, “Welcome to the Chiefs” by FactOfTheMatter with Brayden Day (2:11):
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Xavier Worthy
We’ve already gotten a taste of Xavier Worthy’s speed… although fatty patty says Worthy hasn’t shown it off completely yet.
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In an article for ESPN called, “Bengals’ Cam Taylor-Britt says Xavier Worthy is fast, but ‘that’s about it’” the Cincinnati Bengals CB Cam Taylor-Britt is quoted as saying this about Xavier Worthy:
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“Speed, that’s about it. He can run straight — run
jet sweeps and just run straight. He can’t do too
much else, so that’s about it. I feel like if you put
your hands on him, he’s only a hundred-something
pounds. If you put hands on him, you’re going to stop
his speed. So basically… get your hands on him.”
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Why the Bengals players keep giving the Chiefs bulletin board material to pump them up is beyond me? I spoke with David Bell yesterday and he is in agreement. Why give the Chiefs any more motivation than they already have?
In the Ravens game, the average yards per reception for Mahomes was 14.6. While Mahomes and his yards per reception have maintained their depth of targets over the years, these stats below show that NFL QBs generally have become check-down artists and that since 2019, the average depth of target has declined by one yard per recep:
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Playmakers
Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce has long been the best Tight End in the NFL. Some say his blocking is suspect, I would disagree with that assessment. Here’s a video by NFL UK & Ireland with Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell called: “What Makes Travis Kelce The ULTIMATE Tight End?” (5:34):
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Rashee Rice
Rashee Rice is another quality underneath WR for Patrick Mahomes. Rice had 7 catches for 103 yards verses the Ravens. If we multiply that out, Rice should have a huge year:
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Of course it doesn’t always work out that way. You see, if we multiply Travis Kelce’s game one stats out by 17 (games), he’d end up with just 578 yards. So, while that may offer us some fun while waiting for game two, it’s no where near accurate. Here’s every target to Rice during the Ravens’ game offered by @NFLStudy (1:10):
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What do you think?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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