KANSAS CITY, Mo. — All the things modified for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs on April 27, 2017. That day, by way of commerce with the Buffalo Payments, they moved up 17 spots to draft quarterback Patrick Mahomes with the tenth choose.
However choosing the Texas Tech star was simply half the story.
Days prior, coach Andy Reid informed then-starting quarterback Alex Smith — a Professional Bowler the earlier season — the Chiefs had spent a substantial period of time earlier than the draft figuring out and concentrating on a particular quarterback. The shock for Smith was simply how a lot the Chiefs moved as much as get Mahomes. The Chiefs' effort to get him made it clear to Smith that the 2017 season would possible be his final in Kansas Metropolis.
However what Smith did as soon as Mahomes grew to become a Chief, in keeping with many within the group, is the second the franchise's dynastic run started. That day, Smith, who was drafted No. 1 in 2005, made a acutely aware selection: As a substitute of maintaining his youthful understudy at a distance, or actively sabotaging his early days with the workforce — as he had seen in different locker rooms previously — he would assist mentor and nurture Mahomes as a lot as he might, regardless of the rookie's development in the end spelling the top of Smith's time in Okay.C.
“I did not go as much as Alex and go, ‘Hey, will you educate this man who's going to take your job?'” Reid stated. “That is not the way it labored. I am going, ‘Don't be concerned about that man. You simply go have your finest yr.'
“He did that — and on the similar time he let Patrick into his world.”
Since Mahomes grew to become a starter in 2018, the Chiefs have taken over for the New England Patriots because the league's most profitable franchise. They've performed in 5 of the previous six Tremendous Bowls, successful three Vince Lombardi Trophies in a five-year span. Alongside the way in which, Mahomes has change into a two-time MVP award winner and a three-time Tremendous Bowl MVP. And final week, he grew to become the quickest participant in NFL historical past (116 regular-season video games) to succeed in 250 profession landing passes.
Smith's selfless strategy towards Mahomes, in keeping with teammates and employees, set in movement a tradition throughout the franchise that has been adopted by different veterans through the years. Former linebacker Anthony Hitchens, who retired in 2021, did the identical for present linebacker Nick Bolton. All-Professional left guard Joe Thuney, whom the Chiefs traded to the Chicago Bears this offseason, was the chief for All-Professional middle Creed Humphrey and Professional Bowl proper guard Trey Smith. Cornerback L'Jarius Sneed, now with the Tennessee Titans, taught All-Professional cornerback Trent McDuffie the way to be a lockdown man-to-man defender. And the trainer for working again Isiah Pacheco was backfield mate Clyde Edwards-Helaire. The examples go on and on and on.
When the Chiefs face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday (8:15 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN), they are going to enter the sport with their sights set on one other Tremendous Bowl — a sensible aim that, 9 years later, many within the group acknowledge won't have occurred with out Smith's instance.
“Aaron [Rodgers] and I have been drafted the identical yr. I heard about he and Brett [Favre] and that it wasn't nice. We signed as much as play a workforce sport, ” Smith stated of the frosty relationship between the 2 Packers quarterbacks after Rodgers was drafted in Inexperienced Bay.
“I keep in mind simply promising [Mahomes] that I might by no means undercut him.”
WHEN SMITH BEGAN his profession with the San Francisco 49ers, he was 21 years previous. He made his first begin in Week 5 of his rookie season. He additionally skilled one thing he thought was odd: Nobody on the teaching employees watched movie with him. So, by means of trial and error, Smith taught himself the way to look at his performances, the way to research the opposing protection the upcoming week and what to take notes on to construct a secure routine.
Twelve years later, with the Chiefs, Smith invited Mahomes into the movie room within the workforce's coaching facility. Their mission was easy: They each wished to change into a greater quarterback.
“I wanted to study as a lot as attainable from Alex,” Mahomes stated.
As was the Chiefs' plan, Mahomes spent virtually his whole rookie season observing Smith on the sphere. However in between these video games, Mahomes realized an increasing number of about how Smith processed data from the protection earlier than and after the ball was snapped, and why he made sure choices throughout the framework of Reid's scheme.
Smith was meticulous. He had a special movie session — pink zone, third-down performs, deep passes, the opponent's secondary and the opponent's blitzes — for every day of the workweek main as much as the sport.
Trying again, Mahomes now says Smith imparted a easy but large lesson to him in these early days: Earlier than a protection assessments him, he should have solutions.
“Generally you see rookie quarterbacks in sure conditions the place they do not have solutions,” Mahomes stated. “They do not have a recreation plan of how they are going to assault. You need to have a plan of, ‘If it isn't there, the place am I going to go and the way am I not going to create a damaging play?' That is stuff that I realized from Alex.
“You are not at all times going to be proper, however when you're not proper, the place is your reply? I wished to be good with each safety name. However he would at all times say, ‘I've this plan, but when it isn't there, I do know the place I can get the ball out.' That is stuff that lots of younger guys do not know.”
JADEN HICKS IS the participant who represents the Chiefs' most up-to-date case research of a younger participant who was ready for a bigger position by a veteran who's not in Kansas Metropolis.
The second-year security is among the Chiefs' most intriguing gamers — a dynamic defender who as a rookie final season led the workforce with three interceptions. The primary cause Hicks had such early success is as a result of he was studying from fellow security Justin Reid, who's now with the New Orleans Saints.
Coming into the 2024 draft, the Chiefs knew Reid, who had changed Tyrann Mathieu in 2022, was getting into the ultimate yr of his contract. They chose Hicks, a big-hitting security with loads of athleticism, within the fourth spherical. They shared comparable traits: Hicks is 6-foot-1 and 215 kilos whereas Reid, additionally recognized for his physicality and flexibility, is 6-1 and 207 kilos.
Halfway by means of the season, Reid knew he was possible making ready Hicks to imagine his position within the Chiefs' secondary. He did it anyway.
Simply earlier than Hicks' first profession interception, in a Week 7 win final yr over the 49ers, he had entered the sport for Reid, who felt ache in his left hand after making a touchdown-saving deal with. On his third interception, Reid had informed him precisely the place to line up — switching spots with fellow security Bryan Cook dinner to disguise the secondary's Cowl 2 task — earlier than the play.
The 2 nonetheless speak — and look out for one another — regularly regardless of being on totally different groups. In his first recreation with out Reid — the Chiefs' Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo — Hicks made errors in protection on two of the Chargers' touchdowns. Reid posted help for his former understudy on his X account.
“He is such a very good dude,” Hicks stated of Reid. “That is somebody I can name on every time I would like one thing. He is been a extremely nice vet. I am simply blessed that I used to be in a position to have him whereas he was right here.”
Since then, Hicks has improved his protection. In final week's win over the Baltimore Ravens, Hicks typically stored shifting earlier than the ball was snapped to correctly disguise his protection task and the place the Chiefs have been blitzing from. The Chiefs pressured quarterback Lamar Jackson on 15 of his 27 dropbacks, the best stress fee (56%) he has confronted in a recreation by which he had a minimum of 10 dropbacks. Jackson's two turnovers, an interception and a fumble on a sack, each occurred when he was blitzed.
“Simply holding disguises, that may undoubtedly throw off a quarterback, particularly when he is safeties,” Hicks stated. “That simply adjustments up his entire recreation plan, and also you're in a position to have him test it down or throw it right into a protection that he did not wish to throw into.”
THE CHIEFS' DEFENSE has been the most effective illustration of a unit paying it ahead.
When Steve Spagnuolo joined the Chiefs as defensive coordinator in 2019, he shortly developed a status for trusting veterans over youthful and inexperienced gamers. Security Juan Thornhill was the lone rookie, among the many 2019 and 2020 draft courses, to start out each recreation. That started to vary in 2021 when the Chiefs chosen linebacker Bolton. The second-rounder shortly gained a foothold in Spagnuolo's sophisticated protection due to Hitchens, who, in his eighth and in the end closing yr within the NFL, shared every little thing he might — from notes he had taken on Spagnuolo's protection over the earlier two seasons to what have been probably the most essential obligations for the green-dot defender (who relays Spagnuolo's playcalls to his teammates) — along with his rookie counterpart.
The subsequent yr, Bolton's obligations elevated. He grew to become Spagnuolo's green-dot linebacker and was ready to return Hitchens' favor when the Chiefs drafted linebacker Leo Chenal — a thumper who was able to obtain steerage — within the third spherical.
“We have an ideal tradition that Coach [Andy] Reid and Coach Spags have established, the place you may have guys taking guys below their wing that may presumably take their job sooner or later,” Chenal stated. “It is a enterprise like that, however guys are so humble. After I got here in, I had an ideal group of linebackers [Bolton, Willie Gay, Darius Harris, Jack Cochrane and Elijah Lee]. I simply regarded round and I used to be like, ‘Dude, we're blessed as a result of we're all making one another higher.'
“You do not simply study as a pupil. You study as a trainer, as properly, whenever you're educating. It is fairly cool to be part of it.”
Together with Chenal, the Chiefs chosen seven defenders within the 2022 draft — utilizing their two first-round picks on McDuffie and defensive finish George Karlaftis, whereas additionally including Cook dinner and cornerbacks Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams and Nazeeh Johnson.
All seven helped the workforce win the Tremendous Bowl 10 months later. All seven are nonetheless with the group this season. And all seven had a veteran — Bolton for the linebackers and Justin Reid for the defensive backs — able to help them.
“While you're really witnessing it, it reveals an ideal attribute and the expansion of individuals wanting to actually win, the unselfishness [that's required],” stated defensive deal with Mike Pennel, who performed in 4 Tremendous Bowls with the Chiefs, serving to the workforce win two rings. “Guys are excited to go down information.”
Karlaftis' mentors throughout his rookie season have been defensive ends Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap. Clark shared pass-rushing strikes for Karlaftis to emulate, and Dunlap taught him the significance of tipping and batting down passes; the rookie completed the season tied for second within the league with seven batted passes.
This season, Karlaftis, who has recorded 24.5 sacks in his first three years, can already see how this 2025 draft class, that includes 4 defenders, is mirroring the 2022 group — he's mentoring defensive finish Ashton Gillotte; defensive deal with Omarr Norman-Lott is studying from All-Professional Chris Jones; cornerback Nohl Williams has McDuffie and Watson; and linebacker Jeffrey Bassa is listening to Bolton and Chenal.
“They have been phenomenal,” Karlaftis stated of the rookies, particularly Gillotte and Williams. “They've put their heads down and labored. They have been superior. They ask lots of questions. They need it. They're hungry. Each alternative they have on the market, they've earned it.”
CHIEFS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Matt Nagy has seen three variations of Mahomes through the years.
In 2017, Mahomes' rookie season, Nagy was typically within the room when Smith watched movie and shared suggestions and recommendation along with his understudy. In 2022, Nagy returned to Kansas Metropolis, turning into the offensive coordinator once more after 4 years because the Bears' head coach. In one of many Chiefs' early voluntary offseason practices, Nagy was amazed — when he was seeing the quarterback up shut once more — by how a lot Mahomes had advanced, even throughout a easy set up interval.
“Simply out and in of the huddle,” Nagy stated. “Watching Pat, his tempo and tempo was so quick. It was him yelling to all of the gamers, ‘Jog again, jog again! Let's go, subsequent play!' It was him main it, him working it. He is the man.”
This yr, Nagy is seeing Mahomes change into an excellent better commander of Reid's scheme, a quarterback who has a solution for almost any query he is perhaps requested by a teammate. Understanding and utilizing his affect, Mahomes is among the most vocal gamers throughout practices, a communicator who offers virtually on the spot suggestions to his offensive teammates following a repetition.
“He is a conduit from the gamers to the coaches,” Nagy stated of Mahomes. “Coach Reid may go to him on a number of issues behind the scenes, and he'll give him a pulse of the place issues are. That is very uncommon. The groups and coaches which have that know the way lucky they're.”
Much like Reid's teaching employees, Mahomes has lieutenants within the locker room, assembly rooms and the follow fields in relation to newcomers and younger gamers studying the nuances of Reid's scheme and playbook. The highest lieutenants are tight finish Travis Kelce and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, every probably the most skilled participant at his place.
Smith-Schuster, an eight-year veteran, was Mahomes' No. 1 receiver in the course of the 2022 season, his first yr in Kansas Metropolis. When Smith-Schuster rejoined the workforce in 2024, following one yr with the Patriots, he was Mahomes' fourth-best receiver. However such a job was OK for Smith-Schuster, who understood that his largest contributions for the Chiefs — serving to with the event of fellow receivers Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown — won't be subsequent to his title in a recreation's field rating.
“This offense is so distinctive that anyone could make performs, anyone can get the ball,” Smith-Schuster stated. “With the ability to know the ideas, the performs, the defensive scheme, it makes lots of the opposite guys' jobs simpler when you will get them open.
“Each locker room is totally different. This workforce personally, they are a very open e-book in relation to guys saying what they see and what they need. We are the guys on the sphere. At some locations, receivers and a few guys aren't allowed to speak. It is all run by the coaches. Right here, it is very cool to have guys like [receivers coach Connor] Embree, Nagy and Reid that allow us hearken to them after which allow us to educate.”
Even in coaching camp this yr, Nagy liked watching Smith-Schuster letting rookie Jalen Royals get a few of his reps with the first-team offense. Nagy, who credit Smith-Schuster for “appearing like a coach,” is aware of that the Royals bettering sooner may lead to Smith-Schuster getting fewer snaps throughout video games.
The participant who has been in Reid's system the longest — longer than Mahomes, Nagy or greater than half of the assistant coaches — is Kelce, who's in his thirteenth season.
Two of the standout performers in camp this summer time have been receiver Tyquan Thornton and tight finish Robert Tonyan. Nagy credit their emergence to Kelce's management.
Maybe the ability place participant most comfortable that Kelce selected to not retire within the offseason was Rice, Mahomes' No. 1 receiver, who, as a rookie in 2023 recorded 938 yards, probably the most for a Chiefs receiver since 2021, Tyreek Hill's closing yr earlier than he was traded to the Miami Dolphins.
In 2023, Rice led the Chiefs with seven touchdowns. One of many largest classes Rice realized from Kelce was by means of a four-word phrase: Assume like a quarterback. Rice utilized these phrases within the Chiefs' 2023 postseason run. In 4 playoff video games, Rice made 26 receptions on 33 targets, and 195 of his 262 yards have been gained after the catch.
Rice confirmed much more refinement in his route working — one of many traits Kelce is most recognized for — early final season earlier than a season-ending proper knee harm in Week 4 in a win over the Chargers.
In two weeks, Rice, who's in the midst of serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL's private conduct coverage, will return to the lineup — and resume his route-running apprenticeship with Kelce, who could possibly be within the closing season of his illustrious NFL profession.
“Rashee is watching,” Nagy stated. “When Kelce strikes on, guess who has the torch now? Rashee begins to see that.”
