(Getty) Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes finished second in the NFL in passing yards in 2020.
By most accounts, Patrick Mahomes had another MVP-caliber season in 2020, finishing top four among quarterbacks in passing yards (4,740), touchdowns (38), interceptions (6) and passer rating (108.2) while helping guide the Kansas City Chiefs to a franchise-record 14 regular season wins in 15 starts.
On Friday, the Associated Press announced its annual NFL All-Pro selections, which features three Chiefs — TE Travis Kelce (50 votes), WR Tyreek Hill (24 votes) and S Tyrann Mathieu (19 votes) — on its First-Team roster this year, along with one notable absence: Mahomes.
A look at the full AP NFL All-Pro first team, which includes a league-high 4 Packers and Colts.
The 25-year-old superstar was overtaken in a landslide by fellow MVP candidate and Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers (46 votes) for the top spot, instead relegated to Second-Team honors in a tie with Buffalo Bills signal-caller Josh Allen (2 votes).
For comparison’s sake, Rodgers’ resurgence was also the driving factor in the 13-3 Packers locking up the NFC’s No. 1 seed. The 37-year-old veteran threw a league-best 48 touchdowns on 4,299 passing yards and a 121.5 rating. Notably though, 240 yards and four of those 48 scoring strikes came in a blowout of Chicago in Week 17, a game in which the Chiefs elected to sit their star passer.
After Mahomes carried the MVP odds throughout much of the latter half of the 2020 season, Rodgers’ December push has catapulted him up as the current betting favorite, though not significant enough to justify a 46-2 All-Pro vote.
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Travis Kelce Named Unanimous First-Team Selection
With 50 media members responsible for selecting the All-Pro rosters each year, it’s rare to see a player have such a dominant performance that he’s deemed a unanimous winner. This year’s group featured two such honorees, Los Angles Rams DT Aaron Donald and Kelce, who in Week 16 broke the record for single-season receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history (1,416).
“He works his tail off every single day and he’s practicing every single day and he’s making sure he’s prepared for these moments,” Mahomes said of Kelce, via an Associated Press release. “For a guy to have that much talent, work that hard and be able to learn really every single day like that, that’s what makes him so special on the field.”
In 2020, the 31-year-old playmaker also became the first tight end in league history to record five consecutive seasons of 1,000 receiving yards, as well as the new franchise leader in single-season receptions (105). Fortunately for Chiefs Kingdom, he’ll have a chance to continue his dominance in the years to come after signing a four-year, $57 million contract extension last August.
Depending on how you view it, Kelce’s clean sweep left a comedic or foolish vacancy on the Second-Team roster, keeping some other deserving candidates, most notably Las Vegas’ Darren Waller, off the list.
Kelce, Hill and Mathieu are all making their third career appearance on the First-Team All-Pro roster, putting them in some pretty elite company.
Additionally, fifth-year DT Chris Jones (10 votes) also joined Mahomes on the Second-Team roster, while LT Eric Fisher (1 vote) was the only other Kansas City player to receive a tally, placing him in a fifth-place tie on the blind side, per Chiefs Digest’s Matt Derrick.
Mahomes Releases New Signature Oakley® Sunglasses
With No. 1 seed Kansas City currently enjoying its first-round playoff bye this week, the Chiefs’ Super Bowl champion quarterback announced a collaboration with Oakley on the Patrick Mahomes II Signature Series sunglasses, a new take on the company’s Sutro Lite product.
According to Oakley, “the frame features a red color theme for the quarterback’s teams: Kansas City Chiefs and Texas Tech, an etched lens with II for Mahomes, and a unique print that nods to the MVP’s nicknames ‘Showtime’ and ‘2 PM.’ … and a custom microbag that features his signature.”
(Oakley®)
Next time around, perhaps the shades’ Prizm Lens Technology (designed to help fans see more detail) could be of use to the All-Pro voters, who have seemingly grown accustomed to Mahomes’ on-field dominance — a concept ESPN’s Mike Greenberg sounded off on back in November.
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Chris Licata is an NFL contributor covering the Kansas City Chiefs from enemy territory in Denver, Colorado. Follow him on Twitter @Chris__Licata or join the Heavy on Chiefs Facebook community for the latest out of Chiefs Kingdom!