Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Mitchell Schwartz make PFF All-Pro team

In an article published on Wednesday, football analytics website Pro Football Focus named three Kansas City Chiefs — quarterback Patrick Mahomes, wide receiver Tyreek Hill and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz — to its 2018 All-Pro team.

Three other Chiefs — tight end Travis Kelce, defensive end Chris Jones, and kickoff returner Tremon Smith — were named as second-team PFF All-Pros.

Mahomes — an obvious front-runner to be named the NFL’s most valuable player in 2018 — is no surprise. But PFF said that by its calculations, it was a tight race between Mahomes and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

It was a tight one, but in the end, it came down to consistency. Mahomes had one game grade below 65.0 all season long while Brees had three such outings. The Chiefs quarterback may have been a bit more careless with the football, but you can’t argue with his playmaking ability. His 46 big-time throws were five more than any other quarterback in the league.

But the selection of Hill as its “Flex-O” All-Pro was open-and-shut for PFF.

We had to find some way to get the league’s most dangerous offensive weapon onto the first team, and the flex position fits him perfectly. Hill had over 200 more deep receiving yards (754) than the next closest receiver and five more deep catches. His 3.28 yards per route from the slot was 1.28 yards better than second place.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

PFF’s selection of Schwartz — snubbed in the initial Pro Bowl voting — was also a pretty easy call for PFF.

Schwartz would have run away with the best pass protecting lineman award if it weren’t for some late season hiccups that saw him allow nine combined pressures in Weeks 14 and 15. Before that, he hadn’t had a single game all season long allowing more than two pressures and had yielded only one sack.

Kelce — already selected to the Pro Bowl — was eclipsed by San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, who also beat out Kelce in the last moments of the season to set a single-season receiving yards record for an NFL tight end.

What Kittle did with a melange of backup quarterbacks – and as a run blocker – was quite simply one of the best seasons we’ve ever graded from the tight end position. Not only did he break the record for most receiving yards in a season by a tight end, he broke the PFF record for yards after the catch by any position player for a single season. His 873 yards after the catch were 299 more than Kelce.

Kelce’s brother — Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — was named a PFF All-Pro.

Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images

Chris Jones — snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting — made the second team on the defensive interior behind Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams and Fletcher Cox of the Eagles.

Tremon Smith — a rookie cornerback — averaged 26.8 yards per kickoff return in 2018, which was fourth-best in the NFL. He made the second team behind New York Jets kick returner Andre Roberts.

Pro Bowl linebacker Dee Ford — whom PFF has listed among the league’s best edge rushers through much of the season — did not make PFF’s season-end list. Neither did fullback Anthony Sherman or left tackle Eric Fisher, who also made the Pro Bowl.