The puppeteer: examining how Patrick Mahomes moves defenders all over the field

Other quarterbacks make defenders freeze. Mahomes makes them dance

I promised everyone I would reward Chiefs Kingdom when The Chief in the North Newsletter reached over a thousand subscribers. I figured the best way to do so would be to write about Patrick Mahomes doing things that only he does, in a way only he can do them, in an article unlocked for everyone.

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It’s well known by now that Mahomes uses his eyes to mislead defenses as to where he’s throwing the ball. All of the best quarterbacks in the league do that, so while it’s an elite trait it’s not necessarily unique. However, unlike other quarterbacks, Mahomes doesn’t stop at using his eyes to hold defenders in place.

Mahomes (in typical fashion) isn’t happy making defenders stand still. Instead, he makes them dance, moving them around the field like so many pawns on a chess board.

How does he do this? Through his unique movement patterns, ability to throw from bizarre platforms out of nowhere, and his almost unmatched vision to see the entire field as it develops throughout a play. With that combination of skills, Mahomes is able to guide defenders on invisible strings, and throw to “open” receivers who were only open because of what Mahomes did prior to the throw.

I realized how often he was doing this, oddly enough, due to Mahomes’ own words following an interception in the Super Bowl. While discussing his pick to linebacker Fred Warner, Mahomes told coaches that he’d wanted to move Warner but couldn’t go any farther, and Warner stopped when he stopped. That made me wonder just how often Mahomes utilized this sort of manipulation, and a few hundred snaps later I realized it was all the time.

It’s hard to explain clearly the different situations where Mahomes uses this skill, so let’s start with one of the more obvious examples and work from there.

Here, Mahomes runs away from pressure looking for a target. The Colts are playing disciplined zone, and initially Travis Kelce is bracketed well over the middle. As Mahomes moves out of the pocket, one of the underneath linebackers (50) does a good job getting in front of Kelce, who sees this and stops moving towards the sideline.

This is where Mahomes being a puppeteer comes into play. If he tries to throw to Kelce stopped in place, the linebacker can contest the ball. So Mahomes continues to move to his right, looking towards the sideline as though finding a receiver that direction. The entire purpose of this is to force the linebacker to move away from Kelce. Once that happens, Mahomes casually flips the ball back across his body to a now-wide-open Kelce.

Any sort of player tracking analytics will view this as Mahomes throwing to an open player, and perhaps mistake it for a scheme success. But it’s not scheme, it’s Mahomes pulling the strings on the linebacker and moving him to a spot that allows the play to succeed.

This happens multiple times every game, and isn’t talked about enough as people discuss the skill of Mahomes’ receivers (which is worth discussing) and the quality of Reid’s scheme (also worth discussing). Both are excellent, but Mahomes makes them look even better. It also allows him to create lanes that aren’t there by design.

Here, it’s easy to focus on the pump fake (which is in and of itself a wicked move), but watch what Mahomes does afterwards. He sees that Pringle has leverage against his defender to get open on some sort of whip route, but the underneath linebacker is right in the throwing lane even after the fake.

Rather than go to the next read, Mahomes immediately moves as though he’s going to scramble to his right, where there is some open field. The linebacker reacts by moving down the line to his left, and Mahomes tosses the ball right behind him into the space that was just vacated. The linebacker’s futile swipe at the ball as he runs exactly where Mahomes wanted him to go is a good example of how Mahomes turns football into comedy.

Mahomes’ ability to move defenders extends to the bang-bang scenarios that exist during read option plays as well.

These plays require decisions to be made in the blink of an eye. Mahomes sees that the linebacker (47) plays down the line, and rightfully holds onto the ball. However, the linebacker does a nice job quickly recovering to range into the throwing lane for tight end Blake Bell, who is the quick safety valve option.

In theory, the linebacker has Mahomes at a disadvantage here and most quarterbacks would have to try and run away the other direction or throw the ball away. Instead, Mahomes keeps drifting to his left and pulls the defender there, then utilizes one of his patented “all arm while my body goes the other way” flicks that looks like it belongs on a basketball court rather than a football field. It’s a loss turned into a win by his ability to make the defender move.

Watching Mahomes treat zone defenders like his personal puppets is a genuine joy, and it’s a reason zone defense or having a spy is so difficult against him.

Watch the underneath LB (44) here. Mahomes knows for a long, long time on this play that he’s going to target Kelce going back across the field. But he also knows he needs to get that defender out of the way. So he drifts… and drifts… and drifts… all the while letting the defender come more and more his way. He’s even willing to risk letting Khalil Mack start a run at him (though he releases well in time to avoid a hit).

Once he’s moved the pawn where he wants him, Mahomes floats an almost lazy throw over the middle. The coverage is easily beaten because Kelce’s defender thought he had help inside. And he did, until the puppet master did his thing.

Defenders struggle with this because it takes advantage of instincts they’ve honed over years of playing football. Quarterbacks generally throw in the direction they’re moving. They generally look for defenders on the side of the field they are on. They almost never toss the ball the opposite direction of both. Because of that, defenders are used to moving with quarterbacks.

Mahomes takes those rules and throws them out the window. And while it’s easy to say “defenders need to adjust to the way he plays,” it’s incredibly difficult in the heat of the moment to adjust how one has played the game their entire life.

Mahomes’ movement even toys with well-coached defenses.

Note how Watkins is moving left to right down the field. Mahomes is initially moving to his right after rolling out. This causes the highlighted zone defender to move that way as well. Mahomes brings his momentum to a dead halt, and rather than climb the pocket while moving to his right (away from the potential pressure), he instead works back left. This forces him to make a harder throw across his body, so why do it?

It’s to get the defender to stop moving to Mahomes’ right, which is exactly where Watkins will be. This goes beyond throwing a receiver open, it’s actively working to create the opening by considering how a defender will react to certain movement. That sort of, “if this, then this, then that” decision making is what separates Mahomes from other unique physical talents at the position. He’s out here thinking 3 steps ahead while defenders are just trying to keep up with step 1.

Mahomes is able to make even more subtle fakes to move defenders far out of position. On first glance, this completion to Kelce is the result of inexplicable action by Kelce’s defender.

Watch how the middle of the field zone defender carries Kelce up the seam. He’s in create position, then just appears to jump backwards for no reason as Kelce stops. Mahomes makes the throw to a wide open Kelce, and the scheme or Kelce’s route running was lauded (and to be clear, Kelce’s intelligence in moving to the defender’s blind spot shouldn’t be underrated).

But watch from the Madden cam and you’ll see why the defender was so thoroughly out of position.

As Mahomes steps gets to the top of his drop, he turns his body slightly to his left. He then climbs the pocket with that slight lean in place. Keep in mind that the defender can’t see Kelce, and is relying on Mahomes’ movement to discern what the route will do. He figures, based on what Mahomes does, that Kelce is continuing to run up the field behind him and reacts accordingly. Mahomes releases at an awkward angle to bring the ball back to where Kelce actually is, and the Chiefs gain a bunch of yards.

There will always be conversations as to whether Mahomes would be as good as he is in an inferior system or with inferior talent around him, and those conversations are understandable. Reid is an exceptional coach, one of the best to ever do it, and the talent in Kansas City helps tremendously.

However, the things Mahomes does to create open receivers before he throws the ball are incredibly unique. It’s one of the things that makes it worth tuning in to watch the Chiefs week in and week out. After all, where else can you watch defenders dance at the end of a string?