‘Mahomes-ization of NFL.’ National writer explains how Chiefs star changed the league

There’s plenty of intrigue heading into the 2021 NFL season, with a number of teams in both conferences harboring Super Bowl ambitions.

That’s why Ryan Glasspiegel of Barrett Media asked five national NFL reporters earlier this month why the upcoming season could be more fascinating than any in history.

Sports Illustrated’s Senior NFL Reporter, Albert Breer, wrote how NFL teams have changed their view of the quarterback position.

Breer looked back at the start of the 2018 season and noted every team seemed set at quarterback with either a star at the position or at the very least a solid core of players around a competent signal-caller.

But the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes has blossomed into the NFL’s best quarterback, changing the landscape of the league. Teams now seek a quarterback who is much more than merely competent.

“(G)oing into the 2021 season, I think we’ve reached the next phase of that, where just good, for a lot of teams, isn’t good enough,” Breer wrote.

“Call it the Mahomes-ization of the NFL. At the aforementioned juncture, before the 2018 season, Mahomes was indeed the Chiefs’ plan at the position (they’d just dealt (Alex) Smith away to clear the way for their 2017 first-round pick), but few knew what Andy Reid was about to unleash on the league. Three years later, he’s the mountain that most other teams are looking up at, the one they’ll have to scale over the next decade to win a championship. A decade ago, winning a championship with Joe Flacco or Eli Manning, or a raw second-year player (where Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger were for their first titles) was realistic, if you were good enough around them. And a lot of teams, looking at the challenge Mahomes will present them for the foreseeable future, clearly don’t see it that way anymore. ...

“It seems like the talent pool now is deep enough for everyone to be good at quarterback. But because of the presence of Mahomes, more and more, teams feel the need to be great.”

You can read more of what Breer wrote and what others are saying about the NFL heading into the 2021 season.