Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will go into the 2026 season with something to prove.
Mahomes is returning from the first major injury of his NFL career, a torn ACL that cut short his 2025 season in December. While the Chiefs quarterback was cleared to play in full before the start of his team’s training camp, there are still some lingering questions about whether he will return to his previous form.
Patrick Mahomes Falls Behind Josh Allen for the First Time
There are apparently some top NFL executives with questions, which arose in a poll from SI.com insider Albert Breer. The longtime reporter sends an annual poll to “the NFL’s quarterback-adjacent folks” — a group that included general managers, head coaches, personnel executives, pro scouting directors, offensive and pass-game coordinators, and quarterbacks coaches.
Mahomes fell to No. 3 in the poll, behind Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen for the first time.
“Finally, Allen has broken Mahomes’s vice grip on the top spot,” Breer wrote. “He’s the clear winner for 2026 and, yes, Mahomes’s knee injury is a part of that. More importantly, Allen keeps getting better and more impactful. The challenge now, for both him and Brady, is to finally put the star-crossed Bills over the top. Which, of course, is precisely why Brady was hired in January.”
The poll found Los Angeles Rams quarterback and reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford as the second-best signal-caller in the league.
Breer noted that Mahomes had a precipitous fall, with 18 of the poll-takers not listing him at all.
“I figured he’d fall a little bit, but I didn’t anticipate that he’d be left off 18 ballots,” Breer wrote. “But Allen was already gaining on him after Mahomes won over 90% of the first-place votes in 2020, ’22, ’23 and ’24. Those who’ve stuck to their guns on him this year point to the expected improvement of the run game, with Kenneth Walker III aboard (Josh Simmons’s health will be important in that regard).”
One AFC assistant general manager had a positive outlook, suggesting that the addition of Walker would give the Chiefs a more balanced offense and take some pressure off Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes Faced More Doubts
Mahomes fell even further down the list on NFL.com’s “NFL Top 100” ranking, a player-voted list of all players in the league. The Chiefs quarterback landed just inside the top 20, falling to No. 18 in the lowest ranking since he became the team’s full-time starter.
“Statistically speaking, Mahomes had his worst season since becoming the Chiefs starter in 2018, which has translated to his lowest ranking amid his eighth season on the list,” the report noted. “However, the equity he’s amassed within the NFL is evident as he lands in the top 20.”
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Gets Strong Career Message From NFL Executives