National Football League

Patrick Mahomes moves back to top of Nick Wright's QB tiers after win vs. Dolphins

Published Nov. 15, 2023 8:27 p.m. ET

The Kansas City Chiefs are back in the win column after topping the Miami Dolphins 21-14 in Frankfurt, Germany.

The win came much to the delight of resident Chiefs fan Nick Wright, who begrudgingly dropped Patrick Mahomes from the top spot in his "Mahomes Mountain" QB tiers last week after the squad fell to the Broncos.

But Mahomes was back to his old self in Germany, completing 20 of 30 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns, while the Chiefs moved to 7-2, squarely in position to claim the AFC's top spot.

"[Mahomes] in a bye week, proved on Monday Night Football Manningcast that he can read the Broncos defense from a television set 400 miles away better than Josh Allen can four feet away from across the line of scrimmage," Wright exclaimed Wednesday on "First Things First." "Patrick Mahomes stays atop Mahomes Mountain."

Mahomes was followed on the list by the front-runner for Rookie of the Year and Mahomes' last AFC Championship opponent.

"Top-two levels … remain static. C.J. Stroud, another excellent game even though he made his first real rookie mistake," he said. "He had another game-winning drive. Joe Burrow, we were a bit conflicted. Should we drop him given the two fourth-quarter interceptions? We did not, because we thought he had played so well leading up to this week, and he almost — despite the two fourth-quarter interceptions — executed the game-winning drive."

Patrick Mahomes holds top spot in latest edition of Mahomes Mountain | First Things First

Stroud made a massive jump up the list after coming in on Tier 5 last week. Among the men he usurped: a former league MVP and a former No. 1 overall pick.

"Two show favorites slipped," Wright said, "Lamar [Jackson] and ‘The Prince' [Trevor Lawrence]. They'll bounce back, but Lamar had the pick-six that flipped the game and an earlier interception. The Prince never got going against a newly ferocious Niners' pass rush with the addition of Chase Young.

"And … shout out to Josh Dobbs. … He's just under the most adverse circumstances imaginable, has delivered consistently for teams that didn't seem to really believe in him, and it's really unbelievable what he's doing."

Here's the full breakdown of "Mahomes Mountain."

Tier 1: Patrick Mahomes

Tier 2: C.J. Stroud, Joe Burrow

Tier 3: Jalen Hurts, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott

Tier 4: Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence

Tier 5: Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, Brock Purdy

Tier 6: Sam Howell, Caleb Williams, Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford

Tier 7: Derek Carr, Will Levis, Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew, Jordan Love, Taylor Heinecke, Kenny Pickett