On March 24, 2022, the Kansas City Chiefs traded wide receiver (WR) Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins. With Miami, Hill has continued to maintain his status as one of the best WRs in the game, as he put together arguably his best season this year (119 receptions, 1,710 yards, 7 touchdowns (TD)).

After losing Hill, people wondered how Kansas City’s offense would look without him, despite returning quarterback (QB) Patrick Mahomes and tight end (TE) Travis Kelce. During the preseason, I declared that the offense would be more dangerous, since Mahomes would be incentivized to spread the ball around more with his best deep threat headed to Miami. Now that the regular season has concluded, let’s see how Kansas City’s offense looked without Tyreek Hill.

Key Points

Before we start, here are a few notes to keep in mind:

1.) The duration of this comparison will be from the 2018-19 season (Mahomes’ first full season as a starter) to the 2022-23 season.

2.) If Mahomes did not start the full season, the team statistics for passing will be in parentheses next to his stats.

3.) Any non-QB passing statistics will not be taken into account for team statistics unless they seem meaningful (e.g., TD passes would be used, but not completions/attempts if the person only threw two passes).

4.) The rushing and receiving stats will be listed based on who had the best individual statistical numbers in each category. The player who accumulated the best stats in each category will have their name in parentheses.

5.) Qualifications for yards per carry (YPC) and yards per reception (YPR): At least 50 carries for YPC (QB rushing attempts not included), and at least 80 targets and 50 receptions for YPR.

6.) The best stats in terms of receptions, completion percentage, yards, TDs, etc. will be in bold. All the best stats may not be within the same season.

Prolific Passing

2018-19 season (16 games): 383 completions/580 attempts (66%), 5,097 yards, 50 TD, 12 interceptions (INT), 80.3 Total Quarterback Rating (QBR), 2 game winning drives (GWD) (2 fourth quarter comebacks)

2019-20 season (16 games): 319/484 (65.9%) (378/576 (65.6%) for the team), 4,031 yards (4,690 team yards), 26 TD (30 team TD), 5 INT, 77.7 QBR, 1 GWD (1 fourth quarter comeback) (2 team GWD (2 team fourth quarter comebacks))

2020-21 season (16 games): 390/588 (66.3%) (418/626 (66.8%)), 4,740 yards (4,988 team yards), 38 TD (40 team TD), 6 INT, 78.1 QBR, 3 GWD (3 fourth quarter comebacks)

2021-22 season (17 games): 436/658 (66.3%), 4,839 yards, 37 TD, 13 INT, 62.2 QBR, 3 GWD (3 fourth quarter comebacks)

2022-23 season (17 games): 435/648 (67.1%), 5,250 yards, 41 TD, 12 INT, 77.6 QBR, 4 GWD (4 fourth quarter comebacks)

From these numbers, we can see that Patrick Mahomes has maintained a level of consistency that is among the tier of elite QBs. While his numbers have stayed close to each other in seasons where he’s played at least 15 games (the 2019-20 season is the only one where he hasn’t), an argument could be made that this season was Mahomes’ best, as he set career highs in completion percentage, yards, GWD and fourth quarter comebacks. He also finished second in TD passes among his career seasons.

Relentless Rushing

2018-19: 181 rushing attempts (Kareem Hunt), 824 yards (Hunt), 5.1 YPC (Damien Williams), 7 TD (Hunt)

2019-20: 111 rushing attempts (Williams), 498 yards (Williams), 4.6 YPC (LeSean McCoy), 5 TD (Williams)

2020-21: 181 rushing attempts (Clyde Edwards-Helaire (CEH)), 803 yards (CEH), 4.4 YPC (CEH), 4 TD (CEH)

2021-22: 144 rushing attempts (Darrel Williams), 558 yards (Dar. Williams), 4.3 YPC (CEH), 6 TD (Dar. Williams)

2022-23: 170 rushing attempts (Isiah Pacheco), 830 yards (Pacheco), 4.9 YPC (Pacheco), 5 TD (Pacheco)

Like the passing seasons above, the two seasons that are likely the best are the 2018-19 and 2022-23 seasons. The 2018-19 season featured arguably the best running back (RB) Kansas City has had since Mahomes took over as the starter: Kareem Hunt. This season, seventh round rookie Isiah Pacheco took over for Clyde Edwards-Helaire and proceeded to produce the best season by a Kansas City RB since Hunt.

While Hunt had a great season, I would likely give the nod to the 2022-23 season as the best, as Pacheco produced more yards and YPC than Hunt (Hunt’s YPC in 2018 was 4.6). Also, since the 2018-19 season, the Chiefs set season high totals in team rushing yards and TDs, and finished second in team rushing attempts (417 to 2021-22’s 431) and YPC (4.7 to 2018-19’s 4.8) in 2022-23, showing their commitment to the running game this season.

Repetitive Receiving

2018-19: 150 targets, (Travis Kelce), 103 receptions (Kelce), 1,479 yards (Tyreek Hill), 17 YPR (Hill), 12 TD (Hill)

2019-20: 136 targets (Kelce), 97 receptions (Kelce), 1,229 yards (Kelce), 14.8 YPR (Hill), 7 TD (Hill)

2020-21: 145 targets (Kelce), 105 receptions (Kelce), 1,416 yards (Kelce), 14.7 YPR (Hill), 15 TD (Hill)

2021-22: 159 targets (Kelce), 111 receptions (Hill), 1,239 yards (Hill), 12.2 YPR (Kelce), 9 TD (Hill and Kelce)

2022-23: 152 targets (Kelce), 110 receptions (Kelce), 1,338 yards (Kelce), 12.2 YPR (Kelce), 12 TD (Kelce)

In this list, we see two names dominate the categories: Tyreek Hill, a top 3 WR, and Travis Kelce, the best TE in the game. While losing a player like Hill is devastating for any team, having Kelce allowed Kansas City to weather the storm and have another productive year.

Even with the additions of JuJu Smith-Schuster (101 targets, 78 receptions, 933 yards, 12 YPR, 3 TD) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (81 targets, 42 receptions, 687 yards, 16.4 YPR, 2 TD), along with RB Jerrick McKinnon’s career year (71 targets, 56 receptions, 512 yards, 9.1 YPR, 9 TD), Kelce will likely lead each receiving category for Kansas City until he retires.

Stellar Success

2018-19: 12-4-0, AFC West champions, first overall AFC playoff seed, lost 2019 AFC Championship to the New England Patriots

2019-20: 12-4-0, AFC West champions, second overall seed, 2020 Super Bowl champions

2020-21: 14-2-0, AFC West champions, first overall seed, lost 2021 Super Bowl to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2021-22: 12-5-0, AFC West champions, second overall seed, lost 2022 AFC Championship to the Cincinnati Bengals

2022-23: 14-3-0, AFC West champions, first overall seed, 2023 Super Bowl champions

With the immense talent on offense, defensive stars like Frank Clark, Chris Jones, and Tyrann Mathieu (who is currently playing for the New Orleans Saints), and a coaching staff led by future Hall of Fame head coach Andy Reid, Kansas City has maintained their success each season since Mahomes has taken over at QB, with the team making it to at least the AFC Championship game each season.

As of today, Kansas City is currently the first overall seed in the AFC with a likely first round bye (Edit: Kansas City won the 2023 Super Bowl, 38-35.)

Review

While losing Tyreek Hill was a significant change, the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t seemed to miss a beat. With Patrick Mahomes under center (and likely being the frontrunner to receive his second Most Valuable Player (MVP) this season), a resurgent running game, and Travis Kelce continuing to dominate from the TE spot, Kansas City’s offense has continued to be elite, and they are in a great position to make another deep run in the postseason (possibly a second Super Bowl win).

How do you think the Chiefs have looked without Tyreek Hill? How do you think this team would’ve performed with Hill (both statistically and successfully as a team)? Share your thoughts in the comments below!