The discourse around Patrick Mahomes is expectedly heating up. Widely regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the league as the 2025 season looms, things might seem hunky-dory on the outside. Yet, it was a chink in the armor, painfully unraveled by analyst Chris Simms and Bill Simmons, that has taken the community by storm lately.

So, on one hand, we have Associated Press proudly crowning the QB in a preseason survey. We also have ESPN following suit for the third time in a row, while explaining, “Mahomes still leads the NFL in virtually every passing category — from passing yards to touchdowns and yards per attempt — since becoming the starter in 2018. No quarterback was more efficient on third down than Mahomes last season.” Simms, however, would beg to differ.

On a ‘2025 Simms QB Countdown: The Core Four’ segment from his ‘Chris Simms Unbuttoned’ podcast in early June, the quarterback-turned-analyst noted, “Patrick Mahomes, number four, maybe the greatest quarterback I’ve ever seen in my life, but right now he’s number four in the NFL…Yes, the man, the myth, the legend…maybe the clutchest quarterback…has not been as high level the past two seasons as Joe Burrow, Lamar (Jackson), or Josh Allen…He’s mastered the art of winning. But [that] doesn’t mean you’ve played the most high-quality quarterback play last year, or even the year before that.” Interestingly, Simmons has a similar take.

As per an X post by The Ringer on August 10, the podcaster sat down to discuss QB rankings with The Athletics’ Sheil Kapadia. “I did not have Patrick Mahomes at the top of the pyramid,” Simmons declared. Wondering who’s at the top? Well… “I just think Josh Allen’s the best quarterback in the league, game-by-game, regular season durability, the fact that he…had 14 sacks last year. [Allen] can make chicken salad out of chicken s—,” he further said.

Notably, Mahomes threw for a massive 5,250 yards back in 2022, which trickled down to 4,183 yards in 2023, and 3,928 yards last season—the QB’s first under-4,000-yard season as a starter—while his sacks reached career-high status at 36. Even Josh Allen’s numbers dipped. 2024 was reportedly his third-lowest with respect to passing TDs and yards—Allen had 3,731 passing yards (lowest at 2,074 yards in 2018 as a rookie and second-lowest at 3,089 yards in 2019), and 28 passing touchdowns last season (lowest at 10 as a rookie, and second-lowest 20 in 2019). But he made up for it across the board and eventually snagged that MVP title after becoming the first NFL player to record at least 25 touchdown passes, 10 touchdown runs, and less than 10 interceptions in a season.

No wonder Simmons proclaimed confidently, “If you switch them last season, the Chiefs would have been better with that version of Allen last season versus what they had with Mahomes.” But Kapadia agreed to disagree with another realistic take. “Allen’s a better runner. Josh Allen’s awesome. I think we’re talking about a very slim margin between the two. However…Patrick Mahomes has been to five Super Bowls, won three, has played Josh Allen four times in the playoffs and beat him every time. I feel like Allen needs to either beat Mahomes and get to a Super Bowl or just win a Super Bowl to actually get the belt,” he said. Did Simmons agree? Not at all. Instead, he threw in a unique challenge.

“I’m going to keep Allen in the top spot. And I’m going to say this to Patrick Mahomes: Prove to me I’m a s—-ead. Go take your belt back. You dropped the belt. You dropped the belt in that Super Bowl game and just in general. I didn’t love the season start to finish. And I think Josh is a safer bet. So, prove to me I’m wrong,” the Ringer CEO concluded.

Can Mahomes do it? We’re not sure yet. And if he does stay healthy throughout the season, the call is clear: Either shine through or prove Bill Simmons right.