Andy Reid and Clark Hunt talk about Patrick Mahomes at league meetings in Phoenix

As reported by USA Today’s Mike Jones, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid did manage to address some topics besides the ongoing Tyreek Hill investigation on Tuesday — particularly the challenges third-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes will face during the 2019 season.

“His challenge will just be that there are great defensive coordinators that have now had the chance to study him,” Reid said during the NFL coaches breakfast at the league meetings in Phoenix. “He’s very self-driven, and he’ll take that challenge on the right way. He has the opportunity to look at his tape from the past year and study it and improve on things. We’ll see how all that works.”

Mahomes’ record-setting 2018 season set a very high bar for the young quarterback, but Reid said he believes Mahomes and his coaches are ready for the next step.

”It’s a great challenge for him, it’s a great challenge for us as coaches, and it’s a great challenge for these coordinators trying to stop him.”

“Great players want you to find one more thing to make them even greater,” Reid continued. As a coach, that’s what they want you to do, so that’s our challenge, to give him that opportunity to make him even greater and help make the team better. That’s why we like doing what we’re doing. We’re teachers, and we love doing that.”

Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images

Elsewhere in Phoenix, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt was also taking questions about Mahomes — this time with PFT Live.

“I was so impressed with his play on the field, and his level of maturity both on and off the field — the way he became a leader,” Hunt told hosts Mike Florio and Chris Simms. “He really, really made a difference in our season.”

Hunt was asked what it was that made him recognize Mahomes’ maturity.

“Watching him early in the season speak with the media after the games — even games where maybe he didn’t play his best — the way he handled the questions,” he said. “He’s always very articulate... very thoughtful... very humble in his approach — give the credit to his teammates. And as I have watched him even as we’ve gotten into the postseason, he’s showing up a lot of places, doing a lot of interviews, and he always knows exactly the right thing to say. I really think it comes from that humble heart he has — that’s sort of the starting point that really guides his conversations in those interviews.”

Now with a starting quarterback that has proved his abilities both on and off the field, the Chiefs have been reported to be considering extending Mahomes’ contract as early as a year from now — the first time they will have an option to do so. And Hunt said that is indeed under discussion within the organization.

“It’s something we’ve begun to discuss, but really that’s a decision we’ll make down the road,” he explained. “He had a tremendous year this year. We’re obviously eager to see him progress in year two as a starter. We’ll have a couple of chances here over the next couple of years to extend him. We’ll just have to figure out when the right time is to do that for the organization. Obviously it has a big salary cap impact. A lot has been made of the opportunities you have with quarterbacks on rookie contracts, so we want to take full advantage of that, but at the same time, we’re hopeful to have Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City for a very long time.”