The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off the most disappointing season of the Patrick Mahomes era. For the first time in Mahomes’ professional career, the Chiefs failed to make the playoffs, and Mahomes himself was unable to complete the campaign after suffering an ACL injury late in the season.
All signs point toward Mahomes being ahead of schedule in his recovery and being ready to go by the time Week 1 rolls around. However, even when Mahomes has been healthy, the Chiefs’ offense hasn’t taken the top off of defenses the same way it did when Mahomes was teh heir apparent to Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback in NFL history.
It would appear that the failures of last season, the uncertainty on the sort of player he’ll be after his recovery, and the mediocrity the offense has been mired in as of late have all led ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky to seriously reevaluate how he views Mahomes.
Orlovsky recently ranked his top 10 NFL quarterbacks by traits heading into the season, and the Chiefs superstar was nowhere to be found when it came to pocket presence, mechanics, or ball placement. The ESPN analyst explained the reasoning behind his rankings on Thursday’s episode of First Take.
“Yeah, the process is attached to a little bit of the performance from last season and trying to foreshadow a little bit of the upcoming season,” he explained of how he formulated his rankings.
.@danorlovsky7 ranked NFL quarterbacks by trait… Here is his Top 10👏
1️⃣Matthew Stafford
2️⃣Drake Maye
3️⃣Sam Darnold
4️⃣Joe Burrow
5️⃣Jared Goff
6️⃣Jordan Love
7️⃣Josh Allen
8️⃣Lamar Jackson
9️⃣Brock Purdy
🔟Dak Prescott pic.twitter.com/G7JwkgTdqH— First Take (@FirstTake) August 13, 2026
“The player health, the potential. Um, there’s also some situations where you sit there and go, I really like this guy, this other guy’s been really good, trying to get certain people’s names to get a little bit of shine on some guys and whatnot.”
Fans cannot believe it
Fans on social media couldn’t believe Orlovsky’s glaring omission when it came to some of the most critical traits.
“Mahomes…not top 10…ESPN laid off all those people and decided to still pay this guy,” one fan posted on X.
“Not having Mahomes on this list is insane. Coming from a Packers fan,” someone else added.
“This is a fireable offense. Dead serious. You can’t think Darnold or Purdy or anyone on this list is better than Mahomes. I can’t defend Dan anymore. Get him off NFL Live and off the network. There’s no intelligent defense for this,” another fan wrote.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has confirmed that Mahomes won’t suit up for Kansas City’s first preseason game as he works his way back from his injury, so fans will have to wait just a touch longer to see if he can return to his top for,
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.