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The case to buy low on Patrick Mahomes in fantasy football

andy behrens
Fantasy analyst
·2-min read

Anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to the fantasy expert community's noisemaking already knows we are coming off the week in which everyone turned on Patrick Mahomes. In recent days, the entire fantasy industry has collectively expressed its displeasure and disappointment with him.

Even professional fantasy contrarian Dalton Del Don piled on — just a very tough scene all around.

Never mind the fact that Mahomes happens to lead the NFL’s only undefeated team, he's still making genius-level plays each week and no one is better in late-and-close situations. It's inarguably true that he hasn't paid the fantasy bills through seven weeks. The ongoing issue for Mahomes has of course been the state of KC’s receiving room, where all his best and most trusted wideouts have been injured. The Chiefs once again slipped into a situation in which too many targets have been fed to developmental prospects, return specialists and weird non-Kelce tight ends. Not ideal.

We knew Kansas City was going to attack its most glaring weakness eventually, and it happened on Wednesday morning. DeAndre Hopkins is being air-dropped into an environment that desperately needed a reliable receiver capable of making both the easy plays and the occasional wow-play. He maybe wasn't the most exciting name on the trade market, but he also wasn't a player of last resort.

  • Hopkins is 32

  • He's coming off a game where he caught one pass for negative yardage

  • He sat in the closing minutes with leg soreness

  • He's one of the most accomplished and sure-handed WRs of his era

  • He's just one season removed from catching 75 passes for 1,057 yards in a miserable offense

  • When healthy, he can still stress a defense. The separation data looks just fine and he was leading the Titans in yards per route run

Whatever you think of Nuk at this stage in his career, you should at least view this trade as an undeniable win for Mahomes. We will remind you, again, that K.C.'s QB is still a wizard at the position.

If you’ve been searching for a buy-low fantasy opportunity with a real chance to hit big, this is what they look like. Mahomes is an obviously great player who'd been abandoned by pretty much everyone. He just received a lifeline via trade, which gives him a chance to reclaim must-start fantasy status. Let’s please try to keep an open mind with regard to Earth’s best quarterback.