Eric Bieniemy on Patrick Mahomes: ‘He’s a competitive prick’

In only his third year as a starter, Patrick Mahomes can already be called a lot of things — MVP. Super Bowl MVP. Super Bowl champion. The world’s best football player.

Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had a new one for reporters during Saturday’s Zoom media availability.

“You guys have been around him — you know him,” said Bieniemy. “He’s a competitive prick. OK? He’s a great kid, but he’s a competitive prick. He wants to improve at everything he could possibly improve upon. He wants to be the best at whatever he can do. And along the way, he wants to make sure that he’s leading the guys, he wants to be held accountable by his peers, but also, too — he just wants to work. And that’s what you love about being around him every single day.”

The Chiefs quarterback drew comparisons to Michael Jordan this offseason, when with no live sports to watch, fans took in ESPN’s “The Last Dance.” It is fair to say that Jordan also had a little “competitive prick” in him — something that helped him lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles.

Back in March of 2018, Mahomes’ former Chiefs teammate, Kareem Hunt, noted how no matter what they did — on or off the field — Mahomes was the most competitive person he knew. We watched how in his first year as starter, the Texas Tech product was not shy about engaging the other team.

Hill, who also spoke to the media Saturday, weighed in on his offensive coordinator’s new term for Mahomes.

“I have not idea what he meant by prick, but I will say — Pat loves to compete, and each and every opportunity that we get to go against the defense, he wants to win,” explained Hill. “It don’t matter the situation, it don’t matter whatever it is, he always wants to win and he always brings the best out of each and every one of us, so that’s what I love about Pat. It doesn’t matter who you are — it doesn’t matter if you’re me, (Travis) Kelce or Fish (Eric Fisher) or whoever the case may be, he’s going to give you that extra fuel that you need to continue going.

“It don’t matter if we on play 10 and everybody’s on their knees, dead tired, he’s still [saying], ‘Guys, come on, come on, I need you.’ That’s the thing you got to love about Pat.”

Andy Reid and the Chiefs have mentioned how the greatest obstacle to repeating as Super Bowl champions would be complacency. Only two days into training camp, it appears that Mahomes is simply refusing to let that happen.