Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Patrick Mahomes is about to break another one of Alex Smith’s career records. The only surprise here? It’s for rushing yards rather than passing.
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Even though he’s mostly known for his cannon of an arm and presence in the pocket, the pride and joy of the Kansas City Chiefs has always offered some subtle yet effective rushing upside. And that’s showcased by the fact that he’s already been able to accumulate 2,493 rushing yards through the first nine years of his career.
That’s good for the 24th most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history, and it also places him just shy of his predecessor’s career total. Throughout his time with the Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Washington Commanders, Smith was able to scramble his way towards a total of 2,604 career rushing yards.
Moving forward, Mahomes will need just 112 rushing yards to eclipse his mentor, and seeing as he’s currently averaging a little more than 35 rushing yards per game, he figures to do so by the end of this year. Of course, when it comes to passing totals, things are nowhere near as close.
It took Smith the better part of two decades just to compile the 35,650 passing yards that he has to his name. Meanwhile, Mahomes is still playing in the ninth season of what figures to be a lengthy career and has already tallied 34,152 passing yards.
Suffice to say, Mahomes will likely be able to retire with just about any QB record of his choosing, except for this here QB rushing title, as that figures to reside with Lamar Jackson for the foreseeable future. The face of the Baltimore Ravens is looking like the most prolific rusher to ever throw a football throughout the first eight years of his career.
Not only is he the king of QB rushing yards with 6,339 and counting, Jackson is also the only signal caller in NFL history to record 6,300+ rushing yards. He’s currently averaging 6.1 yards per carry, and when you pair that with the fact that both his passer rating of 103 and his adjusted yards gained per pass attempt average of 8.3 are all-time records, it should be readily apparent as to why he’s so special.
Unfortunately, that individual talent has yet to manifest into anything meaningful for the Ravens. The bulk of the trophies reside with Mahomes and the Chiefs, and a tidal wave of injuries in Baltimore has this season looking like it will be more of the same come playoff time.
Conveniently enough, however, Mahomes’ breaking of Smith’s record will likely coincide with a return to action for Jackson, meaning that there will be plenty of exciting runs to look out for in the AFC this month.
