Though the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs returned to the crew facility this week for organized crew actions (OTAs), the media didn’t get a have a look at this 12 months’s squad till their third follow on Wednesday.
As he prepares for his eighth skilled season, quarterback Patrick Mahomes previewed a hopeful return of Kansas Metropolis’s vaunted deep passing assault that delivered a Tremendous Bowl in his second season as a starter.
He admits, nonetheless, that the dominating protection that helped seal the Chiefs’ most up-to-date title isn’t straightforward to follow towards.
“I feel as I’ve gotten older — and as I’ve realized extra — I simply attempt to discover alternative ways to tweak sure stuff and attempt to push the envelope much more,” the league’s greatest participant defined. “You all noticed immediately; we tried to throw a couple of extra deep passes [and] get again to the deep sport and stuff like that. I feel we’ve executed an incredible job of mastering the intermediate stuff. We wish to get again to having that a part of the offense as properly.
“Coach (Andy Reid) is admittedly pushing us to push it down the sector. It’s arduous to do towards our protection, however we’re attempting to make it occur.”
In the end, the league’s high head coach will design these tweaks and methods to push the envelope. Talking earlier than Mahomes on Thursday, Reid praised the efforts of his quarterback (and tight finish Travis Kelce) for changing into on-field instructors.
“I feel it’s nice to listen to the coaches do it,” Reid said, “however then on high of that to have a participant that voices himself. When Kelce was out right here, he did the identical factor. He places it on the market and makes positive the fellows hear it… That’s so necessary that they’ve purchased into what we’re doing after which are keen to share it with the opposite guys.”
Unprecedented rapid contributions from the crew’s final two draft lessons have seen the Chiefs develop into back-to-back Tremendous Bowl champions. Mahomes shared his method to working with this 12 months’s rookie crop, who will probably be known as upon to assist ship the NFL’s first three-peat (and continued success thereafter).
“They must study must work,” the face of the league famous. “That’s each class that is available in — each group of rookies. It’s important to push to be nice. That’s why you see me over there yelling ‘end,’ and also you see me discuss to these guys after each single play.
“We all know that these guys are who’re going to maintain ups going and preserve this factor going. We’re wanting, clearly, at this 12 months however at future years as properly. So, we wish to be sure that we push them to be nice each single day.”
Whereas early returns on the 2024 draft class seem promising, Mahomes is aware of that the previous two years have raised the stakes for what is anticipated of rookies.
“Having these guys — lots of proficient guys which have displayed lots of expertise to date,” he noticed, “they’ve received to proceed to be nice as a result of they must be good quick. It’s not like we’re ready for them to develop to be an incredible participant. They wish to be nice the primary day they step onto the soccer discipline. I feel our coaches and the gamers round them actually push guys to be nice each single day.”
Picture by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Pictures
The Chiefs’ total crew will have to be nice each single day to persevere by means of a traditionally weird schedule. Mahomes acknowledges that the slate of video games — which sees the Chiefs closely featured in standalone video games — is a product of current success.
“I really feel like our schedule has gotten crazier and crazier each single 12 months,” he claimed. “It’s nearly getting ready for the week forward of you. We all know that we’re going to have lots of primetime video games. We’ve constructed up the fairness to have the ability to be in these video games.
“Now, it’s about how can we discover a technique to be higher than we have been final 12 months on the finish of the season? So, study from our errors from final 12 months, encourage ourselves to get ourselves more healthy quicker, and go on the market and win these video games as a result of there’s lots of nice soccer groups that we play on the finish there.”
Harkening again to the 2023 Chiefs’ lowest second — that noticed many write them off as a official Tremendous Bowl contender — Mahomes provided a aim this 12 months’s schedule does afford him.
“I’m going to attempt to be higher on Christmas,” he declared, “as a result of final Christmas was not nice.”
