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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes saw his 2025 season come crashing to a halt in December when he suffered a devastating knee injury.
The injury came as the Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs, ending his chance at a historic fourth straight trip to the Super Bowl and dashing the already fading MVP hopes for the season. Now, Mahomes got a bit more bad news on his performance for the season.
Patrick Mahomes Falling Down Informal Fan Rankings
In a post from NFL Shop, it was revealed that Mahomes failed to crack the top 10 in jersey sales across the United States and Canada for the 2025 season. It was instead rival quarterback Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills who topped the list, followed by New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
The others in the top 10 included Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, Caleb Williams, Saquon Barkley, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Fred Warner. While the list included mostly players who have been with their teams for fewer than five years, the inclusion of a long-established veteran like Allen at the top is a blow to Mahomes.
The inclusion of Canada on the list could skew the results toward Allen, who plays in the border city of Buffalo and has a considerable fan base in southern Ontario, but Mahomes had been high on jersey sale lists in the past. It could be that enough fans already have his jersey from purchases in prior years, but the drop is also an informal sign that Mahomes could be losing his grip on NFL fans amid a year of struggles.
Patrick Mahomes Faces Uncertainty
Mahomes is headed into an offseason filled with uncertainty, with no clear timeline for when he will return to the field after suffering a torn ACL and LCL in December. The former two-time league MVP already underwent surgery and remained in Kansas City to go through rehab, but is expected to face a complicated recovery and players who have suffered similar injuries in the past have a wide variance on when they’re able to return.
The Chiefs appear to be preparing to reload after their first season falling short of the playoffs in more than a decade. As ESPN reported, the team restructured Mahomes’ contract to convert $54.45 million of his 2026 salary into a signing bonus that lowered his cap number to $34.65 million.
“The Chiefs, who missed the playoffs in 2025 after reaching the Super Bowl in each of the three previous seasons, created $43.65 million in cap space. It marks the fourth consecutive year that Kansas City has restructured Mahomes’ contract,” the report noted.
The report added that the move buys the Chiefs some much-needed salary cap space for this offseason, which can now be used to address key areas on the roster.
“The Chiefs entered the offseason more than $57 million over the cap and still will need to make some financial maneuvers after reworking Mahomes’ deal,” the report noted. “Mahomes, who is recovering from knee surgery, initially was set to count for $78.2 million against the cap in 2026.”
Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty
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