PatrickMahomes

News: 2 days agoMahomes and other starters are scheduled to play the first half of Saturday's preseason game against Detroit, Adam Teicher of ESPN.com reports.

Spin: Per usual, the Chiefs are at the front of the pack when it comes to preseason playing time for starters. It's worked out more than alright for them in recent years, but fantasy managers that have already drafted Mahomes presumably aren't thrilled to see the multi-year trend continue. The expectation of considerable playing time makes KC's QB1 a viable choice for preseason DFS contests.

ESPN Fantasy Projection: Though Mahomes' 2023 saw him post his worst yards per attempt (7.0), aDOT (6.2), touchdown (4.5%) and interception (2.3%) rates of his six seasons as an NFL regular, consider the context: He was working with his weakest set of receivers in any of those years. The Chiefs were worst in the league in drops (38) and had the second-worst catch rate on throws 20-plus yards downfield (27.4%), after having been seventh best in that department the season before. Mahomes made it work -- he led the team to a Super Bowl title, after all -- and it's a testament to his overwhelming, Hall of Fame-caliber talent that he finished eighth among quarterbacks in scoring in spite of his supporting cast. The additions of Marquise Brown and Xavier Worthy, coupled with Rashee Rice's late-season emergence, should give Mahomes the weapons necessary to rebound as a top-five positional pick and early-round selection.