The extent to which the Buccaneers gave quarterback Tom Brady the keys to the car last year caused multiple other quarterbacks who only ever get to ride in the back seat to take a stand. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes didn’t have to; the team already has had his own set of keys made.
Peter King delves into the dynamic between Mahomes and the Chiefs in the new edition of Football Morning in America. Needless to say, player and team aren’t on a collision course fueled by the team’s unwillingness to listen to the opinions of the face of the franchise when it comes to strategy and personnel.
G.M. Brett Veach, the guy who essentially discovered Mahomes and lobbied aggressively to persuade coach Andy Reid to trade up for Mahomes, explained it in a very simple way, one that should be a lesson to any team with a true franchise player.
“He’s got a great pulse of the team,” Veach said. “Smart players have an innate feel of their responsibility inside the team. He has that, and he’s been able to stay humble while becoming a global product. We would be doing a great disservice to the franchise long-term if we didn’t engage him on the important issues that affect our team. His play warrants, his impact warrants it.”
Although Veach approached the problems between Aaron Rodgers and the Packers diplomatically, Veach found a way to put all Chiefs fans at ease regarding the possibility of a similar dynamic unfolding in Kansas City.
“I guess to use Green Bay as an example -- clearly I don’t know the ins and outs of the issues there,” Veach said. “But I find it hard to believe that what happened there could happen here.”
Indeed, immediately after the Tampa Bay pass rush cratered an offensive line depleted by injury in Super Bowl LV, Veach made Mahomes a promise: “Trust me. We’re gonna get this line right.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs are bound by a shared desire to win.
“The big thing is, they really want to win and so do I,” Mahomes told King. “I think whenever you look around the league, every guy that’s kind of had some stuff happen this offseason, they just want to win. They want to win Super Bowls. Having Coach Reid and having Brett Veach, and knowing the commitment they have for this organization and to win, that’s what allowed me to sign the contract that I did. I knew that those guys were going to be around. I had talked to them before that and I knew they were going to surround me with great players and a chance to win every single season. We hold each other accountable. That’s why I think that we have this relationship that we have.”
It goes beyond input on players. Mahomes has regular input on plays that will be used. Andy Reid shrugs at it.
“I meet with Patrick Fridays and then with the quarterbacks again Saturday, and we rank the plays the way we like ‘em,” Reid told King. “I say, ‘If there’s something you don’t like, be honest with me, and we’ll just get rid of it.’ I mean, we got 200 plays. What we want to call in the game we should feel pretty good about. Patrick’s good at suggesting things that have a good chance to work.”
Still, it’s unusual for a team to treat a player as something more than a player. But some players deserve that status. They expect starting quarterbacks to show up early, stay late, constantly study film, hold teammates accountable, inspire them, guide them, influence them. But when it’s time for the starting quarterback to ask for a seat at the grown-ups’ table, too many are told to wait in the hall.
That’s why the Packers and Aaron Rodgers are at an impasse, and that’s why the Seahawks and Russell Wilson had to work to get on the same page for 2021 -- and may not ultimately be there for 2022.
The game has changed. The smart teams realize that their quarterbacks have earned something more than “you just work here.” In Kansas City, Mahomes does a lot more than punch a clock. And it’s working for the Chiefs.
