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Football analytics website Pro Football Focus posted an article praising Kansas City Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher toward the end of last week. It’s a good, quick read, and the premise is simple.
Fisher struggled mightily last year from Week 1 to Week 10, the Chiefs’ 26-14 win against the Arizona Cardinals. You may remember that Fisher gave up two sacks in that game to linebacker Chandler Jones. But something changed in him following that week.
Check out this chart:
New Article: #Chiefs LT Eric Fisher (@Big_Fish79) is finally hitting his stride in the NFL, a breakdown of the former #1 overall pick’s emergence#ChiefsKingdomhttps://t.co/IjmymKoc0t pic.twitter.com/4IjYTLkrHm
— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) June 28, 2019
The Chiefs had a bye after the Cardinals game, and from Week 11 to the Super Bowl, there was no better tackle in the league, according to PFF’s grading system.
PFF: Something changed in him after this performance. From that point onward he was the highest-graded tackle in the league with an overall grade of 83.2. His pass-blocking grade of 86.0 was the fifth-best in the league at the tackle position. His loss percentage dropped from 11.9% to 4.9% — a top-three mark among players at the position.
That’s a great note for the Chiefs entering 2019 (especially given their lack of legitimate tackle depth), but it isn’t the end of this story. Over the weekend, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made sure his more than 501,000 Twitter followers noticed the piece.
Hey Eric! @Big_Fish79 https://t.co/UZUHwLIHRc
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) June 29, 2019
At the age of 23, the NFL MVP continues to find new ways to lead, and that ranges from joking with wide receiver Mecole Hardman about running to the end of a play to simple notes like this about his men up front.
There is no doubt that Fisher, who is under contract with the Chiefs through 2021, has taken some heat from fans during his time in Kansas City. So it goes with being a former first-overall pick.
But this is a positive sign in the right direction, one Mahomes noticed and wanted to make sure you did, too.