Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Patrick Mahomes finessed his way to the Chiefs in the NFL Draft, with the help of Matt Nagy
Perhaps Matt Nagy was just playing the long game.
Back during the 2017 draft cycle, the Kansas City Chiefs were one of many teams meeting with then-Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes. On the latest installment of the podcast New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce, Mahomes pulled the curtain back on his meetings with the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid, and just how far Nagy — who was on the Kansas City coaching staff at the time — went to make sure Mahomes made a good impression.
According to Mahomes, his meeting with Reid would include a discussion of plays in the Chiefs’ playbook. To make sure that the quarterback made a good impression, Nagy provided Mahomes with the plays that were to be discussed, allowing Mahomes to study them in detail the night before his meeting with Reid:
In the above exchange, Mahomes also outlines how he told the Chiefs just how far he could fall in the draft before teams would likely turn in a card with his name on it. According to Mahomes, once he fell to around 12th in the draft, other teams were going to draft him, and he passed on this bit of inside information to Kansas City.
We learned back in September that the New Orleans Saints, according to former head coach Sean Payton, were going to draft Mahomes with their pick at 11 overall.
Instead, the Chiefs traded with the Buffalo Bills and moved up to the tenth spot in the draft, selecting Mahomes just before the Saints.
Nagy, however, only enjoyed one season with Mahomes as the offensive coordinator in Kansas City. After Mahomes’ rookie year — where he watched Alex Smith operate the offense — Nagy was hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. That put Nagy in charge of the development of the quarterback who was drafted before Mahomes, Mitchell Trubisky.
We know how that ended.
Now, however, Nagy is back with Mahomes, as a senior offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach for Kansas City. That. gives Nagy the chance to work with Mahomes on a daily basis, with Mahomes now starting games in the NFL.
It took a little longer than expected, but Nagy is finally getting the chance to coach the quarterback he gave the answers to the test to a few years ago.
