Over half of the points scored by the Kansas City Chiefs in their preseason Week 2 win over the Washington Commanders can be attributed to the budding connection between two players — QB Patrick Mahomes and TE Jody Fortson.
Just days after Mahomes named Fortson as one of the team’s standout players of training camp, the fourth-year tight end went off in the preseason against Washington. The pair combined for two catches for 12 yards and two touchdowns on the night. It was a significant milestone for Fortson, who hadn’t played in a game since October 17th of 2021, when he suffered a season-ending non-contact Achilles injury.
The standout performance by Fortson doesn’t come as a surprise to Chiefs Kingdom, as they were witness to this budding connection last season. Fortson caught 5-of-5 passes for 47 yards and two touchdowns in six games played. He was earning an increasing number of repetitions and playing time before his injury. This game showed that Fortson has picked up right where he left off and that his chemistry with Mahomes has grown even stronger.
The Chiefs’ signal-caller said that he now trusts Fortson enough to go to him in high-leverage moments.
“It was obviously kind of a crossing route-type play,” Mahomes told reporters after the game. “They actually played it really well. I think you’ve seen with Jody (Fortson), when he’s one-on-one and he has a guy behind him, you can kind of give him that chance. I’ve kind of built that trust with him now and I think you saw it two times today, where he wasn’t necessarily open. But when you have a big guy like him that can catch the ball, make those physical and tough catches, you give him a chance and he makes me look good.”
Fortson said it’s easy to make plays for Mahomes, who he believes has the best accuracy among any quarterback in the NFL.
“Patrick (Mahomes) is just one of the greats,” Fortson said. “I feel like he has the best accuracy in the NFL. Especially on that second (TD), I don’t know how he got it in there, but he did. The first (TD), he just did a great job of putting the ball where only I can get it. I’ve got the best QB in the league.”
While a former Chiefs pass-catcher might not agree with that assessment, this performance provided perhaps the most all-encompassing view of the new-look offense in Kansas City. The Chiefs are going to attack opposing defenses with a variety of different weapons. Fortson is just one piece of the puzzle, especially when it comes to his ability to contribute in the red zone.
“Yeah, I think so for sure,” Mahomes said of Fortson becoming a red zone target. “He was already emerging like that last year a little bit before he got hurt. We were giving him more and more plays down there. And I think you see it even today, it’s just another weapon down there that we can use. I mean, we have so many options with all the screens and the plays to (Travis) Kelce and all the shovel passes. But when you have a guy that is one-on-one and can make a catch like (Jody Fortson) did today? That’s a DB in a good position, but when you have a guy that is that big that can high-point the ball on those catches it gives you another option that will open up other stuff for us.”
This performance has been a long-time coming for Fortson, who began his career in Kansas City as a wide receiver fresh out of D-II football’s Valdosta State. His rehab and recovery from his Achilles injury was a long road, but one that he attacked with purpose. It didn’t go unnoticed by his quarterback either, who is happy to see it paid off in the interim and hopes to see the success for Fortson continue in the future.
“When you’re a guy coming off of injury like that, it’s going to take some time,” Mahomes said of Fortson. “But I think the biggest thing that I saw, even last year, he was in there every single day. It wasn’t like he went off and did his own thing while he did rehab because you can do that. But he was in the facility every single day working. That’s the type of guy that he is. He was on the practice squad for two years, he came from a small school, but every single day he’s been here he has worked hard. He’s done whatever he can to get himself better and I think it’s paying off for him now. Hopefully, he can carry it on to the rest of his season and the rest of his career.”
