NFL MVP Race 2018: Top 10 candidates at midseason

3. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

This is a stats driven world in sports nowadays. Gaudy stats at the most important position in the sport plus team success always equals being at the top of the MVP discussion. That’s the case for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Sometimes, however, you need to dig deep at the stats and look beyond the gaudy numbers. Mahomes leads the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns, and his 18-3 touchdown-interception ratio is amazing. When you dig deep at the total yards, though, there’s more to the story.

While he gets credit for getting his receivers the ball accurately and in space, much of the gaudy numbers are due to his receivers running after the catch. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, his average completed yards in the air of 6.5 is tied for 12th in the NFL, and the Chiefs have 1,301 yards after the catch on the season — with four receivers over 200 YAC.

When 52 percent of the passing offense is reliant on yards after the catch, that slightly diminishes his value to the success of the team, because without the receivers who can produce YAC, the offense wouldn’t be as productive. In turn, that means his value is substantially dependent upon the production of others.

Subsequently, it’s hard to call him the MVP given that. If the percentage of the offense coming from YAC was lower, the discussion would be very different.