Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes will have big job keeping all receivers happy – Kansas City Chiefs Blog

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs have so many hungry receivers and ball carriers to feed that even one of them, wide receiver Sammy Watkins, wondered aloud this week whether it’s possible for all to be satisfied.

“I don’t know how Coach is going to get everybody the ball,” Watkins said. “He’s got so many weapons … it’s going to be a fun time.”

It would be a fun time for the Chiefs if they’re winning and if the numerous skill players — including Watkins, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, tight end Travis Kelce and running back Kareem Hunt — get their share.

Absent either of those things, the good times might not be rolling in Kansas City. In that case, coach Andy Reid, the playcaller, wouldn’t be the only one hearing about it. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes II would inevitably hear some pleas for the ball in the huddle and on the sideline.

Perhaps even more than Reid, Mahomes is the one tasked with keeping everyone happy, or at least satisfied. For the time being, at least, Mahomes isn’t worried about that part of his job.

“I know those guys want to compete,” Mahomes said. “I know they want to win the game. With me, I’m just going to play through the offense like we’re supposed to play through it. In Coach Reid’s offense, everybody gets the ball, everybody has success. I’m excited just to be a part of that and be able to spread the ball around.

“All of these guys in the locker room want to get better, so just as much as I’m listening to them they’re listening to me. We’re trying to make each other better every single day. When you have guys like ours, you can say things and they listen to you and give feedback and that’s how you get better as a team.”

Mahomes learned from an early age the dynamics of a professional locker room. He spent many hours in that environment as a kid with his father pitching 11 seasons in the major leagues for six different teams.

“Just growing up in a locker room, if you watched those guys, they compete in everything,” Mahomes said. “My dad is the same exact way. He still competes with me to this day. He thinks he can beat me in a race if we were in a footrace.

“It’s something that’s just kind of bred, I think, in my family and just kind of bred as I went into a locker room and saw guys competing in everything.”

The Chiefs traded up to draft Mahomes in the first round last year, so it was only a matter of time before he ascended to the starting job. Mahomes started planning for that eventuality as a rookie, when he prepared himself every week to be ready if the Chiefs called on him, and otherwise progressed from the day he first arrived at the practice facility.

His teammates and coaches noticed. Mahomes passed the season’s biggest test, his only start in the final game against the Broncos in Denver.

“I thought he handled himself the right way last year, which was important,” Reid said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of nonsense. He just came out and worked. He handled himself the way you’re supposed to. He tried to get better every day. Then when he had a chance in Denver, he stepped in and he led. It wasn’t the scout team. It was getting out there and actually doing it in a game against good players.

“He’s not afraid to put a little pressure on you to make sure you do your job. He does the same thing to himself every day. If you’re playing with him, you’d better be ready to go. He’s pretty passionate about how he goes about his business.”

It’s difficult to overstate what the Broncos game did for Mahomes in terms of his teammates’ confidence in him. He threw for 284 yards and led the Chiefs on their drive to the game-winning field goal on the final play.

The Chiefs had seen that kind of thing from Mahomes on the practice field. Now they’ve seen it for real.

“I was really impressed with the way he moved out of the pocket,” center Mitch Morse said. “I didn’t know he had those legs on him. To be able to throw the ball in those contorted, weird ways he’s throwing that sucker was amazing. He’s a playmaker. That was apparent. It was pretty special to watch him go out there and put drives together.”

The Chiefs started their organized offseason program this week. Before it began, Mahomes took the initiative to organize some throwing sessions at a Kansas City-area high school with the receivers and backs who stayed in town.

That’s a more tangible thing that also should help when the Chiefs start training camp in July.

“It was good to kind of start building some chemistry with those guys,” Mahomes said. “I was having at least four to five guys a day. It was everybody, everybody that was in town at the time.

“I think I threw to every single guy at least once. We had group messages going. I had one with the tight ends, I had one with the running backs, I had one with the receivers. Just making sure everybody knew when I was throwing.”



Source : ESPN