Patrick Mahomes keeps No. 1 ranking but cracks are starting to show

Two years of an offensive slump, relatively speaking, will have an effect, but Patrick Mahomes still reigns supreme as the league's top quarterback in the minds of those in and around the NFL.

The results of this year's ESPN quarterback rankings are in, and Mahomes is, once again, at the very top of the list, per reporter Jeremy Fowler. It's the same post he held in 2024 and 2023 (and so on).

This year, as Fowler details in the column, Mahomes' grip on the first-place perch has loosened a bit, but that's to be expected. The Chiefs as an offensive juggernaut is a thing of the past, despite the team's ongoing success with two Super Bowl titles in the last three seasons.

The latest ESPN quarterback rankings are out for the 2025 season.

Mahomes has owned his part in the offensive problems and has stated on multiple occasions that he needs to perform better in key scenarios. The deep ball hasn't been there, and Mahomes has made some odd decisions at times in perceiving pressure that isn't there or just being off, for lack of a better word, with any downfield targets.

That said, misfortune and the front office haven't exactly helped matters. The defense has received three of the last four first-round picks before this year's draft, which has, of course, elevated the team's unit to elite levels. However, as injuries took their toll on the offensive side, the team relied on Mahomes to do the heavy lifting for a thin unit of injured and aging playmakers.

Last year, the Chiefs relied on four different starters in the left tackle role. Rashee Rice was injured for the majority of the year, as was Hollywood Brown. Isiah Pacheco missed considerable time and was a shell of his former self following his return. The decline of Travis Kelce became a real concern, and that doesn't even include myriad other injuries along the way.

After leading the entire NFL in points scored and yardage gained in 2022, the Chiefs fell to No. 15 and 16, respectively, in 2024. Those numbers are still around league average, but when you have the game's top quarterback at the helm, the metrics aren't good enough—and everyone knows it.

This is why Mahomes only garnered 60 percent of first-place votes this year, per Fowler, after earning all but one vote last year. One voter also ranked Mahomes at No. 4.

As for the rest of the rankings, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson are the other quarterbacks who earned first-place votes. They also comprise the rest of the top four.