He has well utilized the no-look, the side-arm and the long ball. What’s next?
The Athletic’s Nate Taylor noticed Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was working on a forward-pitch of sorts on Sunday, just another wrinkle the reigning Super Bowl MVP is teasing as he hopes to lead the team back to glory this season.
“I don’t want to give away all my secrets,” a smiling Mahomes said. “It’s stuff that I work on and stuff that we do. I try to find ways to get the ball to the receivers, tight ends, running backs, whoever it is, the quickest way possible. The pitch was one thing that we had kind of worked on and stuff like that. I think I saw either Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers do it in one of the games — I was watching one of those throwback games with the Green Bay Packers. So I try to look at what guys have done before me. I’ve looked at guys like Dan Marino and how he had success, and then I look at the guys that are playing around the league with Deshaun Watson and Lamar and Dak Prescott — all these guys that are having success, and I try to find what they do and try to take it out and put it into my game, so I can be a better player every single time I step on the field.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was impressed with how the quarterback handled the offseason meetings, which had to be conducted via video message due to COVID-19.
“I thought he attacked the offseason aggressively,” Reid said. “He was on every Zoom meeting we had and asked great questions, which he normally does. He wants to know everything, wants you to feed him new plays and wants to continue to grow, and that’s about all you can ask. Every opportunity he had to throw, he got his guys together and they threw. So, my hat goes off to him on the way he’s approached it.”
ESPN’s Adam Teicher asked Mahomes about a flashy flick-of-the-wrist in seven-on-seven toward the end of practice Sunday.
“The great thing about training camp practices and practices with coach Reid is he allows me to try those different things,” said Mahomes. “You’ve kind of seen camp go — there’s been times when I’ve made some of these throws and they’ve worked out and we’ve scored touchdowns. I threw one, one day, and it was an easy interception, so [Reid] lets you try those different things that you can just learn from them, see what you can and can’t do. It helps me at the end of the game when I know what I can do and what I can’t.”
Even entering year three with Mahomes as a starter, Reid hasn’t grown tired of seeing those type of head-turning plays.
“I appreciate his talents and I remind the coaches of that often,” Reid said. “That just doesn’t happen all the time with every quarterback. So, he makes it look easy and does it time after time, but you don’t ever get satisfied or complacent with those—you enjoy each one of them.”