On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Dan Graziano dropped a column going through every NFL team’s quarterback situation, posing an important question about each.

In the case of the Kansas City Chiefs, their question is quite favorable.

What needs to happen for Patrick Mahomes ‘ stats to return to elite level?

Well, it would certainly help if the Chiefs could protect him better. Can the combination of free agent signee Jaylon Moore and first-round rookie Josh Simmons help shore up the tackle position? Will second-year lineman Kingsley Suamataia be better at guard than he was last season at left tackle?

Getting Rashee Rice back from his knee injury will help the WR corps, as should a full season from Hollywood Brown. The Chiefs may never again be as explosive as they were in the early Mahomes days with Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt and prime Travis Kelce . But the offense has shown it can be efficient and effective when the O-line is right.

My take

I mostly agree with Graziano’s writeup, but let’s unpack it piece by piece.

First, to be clear here: I believe the Chiefs deserve the credit for creating a better pass-protection situation for Mahomes. That said, we definitely need to see how it all plays out.

As he returns from a knee cleanup, Jawaan Taylor projects to serve once again as the team’s starting right tackle. On the left side, Kansas City has two options: veteran Jaylon Moore and rookie Josh Simmons, who is making excellent progress recovering from his college injury.

At left guard, Kingsley Suamataia has been penciled in after a short-lived tackle experiment in 2025. Other possibilities include Mike Caliendo and Hunter Nourzad, who started seven games at left guard for Penn State.

In short, the Chiefs did a commendable job finding potential answers, but each of those answers comes with a level of uncertainty. We don’t need to argue one way or the other, as both can be true — and that’s important to remember.

In Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown (not even mentioning Travis Kelce in a more complementary role), Kansas City has quietly put together one of the league’s better wide receiver trios. The question surrounding the receivers will be availability. Rice has looked good in OTAs, and it seems he will indeed be ready by training camp. We will have to see about a potential suspension.

Worthy appeared in all 17 games last season, while Brown is hoping to bounce back from a season marred by a sternoclavicular (SC) joint injury that cost him almost the entire campaign. Kansas City retained veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster and drafted Jalen Royals to round out a room that should theoretically provide Mahomes everything he needs to succeed.

I agree with Graziano that even if all the above goes to plan, I’m not sure we’ll ever see a repeat of those “Legion of Zoom” days, especially as league-wide defensive theory has shifted to preventing the deep ball. But if Mahomes is well protected and the full arsenal is available, the excuses for a stagnant offense will be gone.

History would dictate that Mahomes will rise to the occasion, planting himself right back in the NFL MVP conversation. The two-time MVP always seems to thrive when the analysis shifts against him — which already happened on Tuesday.