Kansas City Chiefs former outside linebacker Tamba Hali spoke about Patrick Mahomes, and it conflicts what we heard from another former Chiefs player.
The Kansas City Chiefs are doing something that has not been done for a long time in the franchise which is developing their own quarterback. Trading up and drafting quarterback Patrick Mahomes last year was the first time the team had selected their own quarterback in the first round since 1987 when they drafted Todd Blackledge. Adam Thielen of ESPN rated Blackledge as the biggest draft bust in team history.
For many fans including myself, this is the first time in our lifetime that the Chiefs have drafted and developed their own early-round quarterback. The franchise has spent the last 30 years bringing in quarterbacks at the end of their career or trading for other teams backups. It’s fair to say that even if you were around for the Blackledge drafting, considering the time it’s been, fans are in uncharted waters having their own franchise quarterback.
Mahomes spent his rookie season on the bench learning behind quarterback Alex Smith. Head coach Andy Reid made it clear following the drafting of Mahomes that he would sit for a year and learn behind the veteran. After looking great in the preseason, it was a long wait for many fans until week 17 when they got to see him play again in a regular season finale against the division rival Denver Broncos. It was clear to even the front office that Mahomes was ready to be the starting quarterback as the team made a deal with the Washington Redskins before the Super Bowl had been played to trade away Alex Smith.
During the 2018 offseason, most of the buzz around the Chiefs organization is around the new young quarterback Patrick Mahomes. During this time, we have heard from multiple former Chiefs players and even some from other teams on what they think of Mahomes. All but one has raved about how great his talents are. That one player that wasn’t high on Mahomes was former cornerback Marcus Peters who was traded to the Los Angeles Rams shortly after Alex Smith was traded.
Peters spoke on NFL Total Access following the announcement of his trade to the Rams, but the deal was not yet official. That didn’t keep him from talking about the quarterback situation in Kansas City as he seemed not as impressed with Mahomes as everyone else seems to be.
“I’m expecting turnovers, and I’m expecting to win. He know how to get me the ball. He know how to get me the ball.”
That comment right there was the biggest takeaway from the interview. Peters went on to talk about how Smith never got enough respect in Kansas City and that the defense lost the playoff game against Tennessee. While taking responsibility for the loss was good to hear from a defensive player considering the Titans took over in the second half, his comments about Mahomes go against everything we’ve heard about Mahomes.
About a month ago, Matt Miller of Bleacher Report was given insight by an unnamed member of the Kansas City Chiefs front office that Patrick Mahomes was “torching Marcus Peters” in practice during his rookie season.
"One source in the scouting staff pointed back to how well Mahomes did against the Chiefs’ starting defense last year while “playing with a bunch of practice squad receivers” and noted “he’s torching [Marcus Peters].”"
Marcus Peters’ comments painted a picture that Mahomes struggled in practice and that he threw numerous interceptions to Peters. When looking at other comments about the young quarterback, it makes me wonder if Peters was just taking shots at the Chiefs. An unnamed member of the Chiefs front office wasn’t the only one to come out and say that Mahomes was getting the better of Peters.
Peters’ new teammate and former Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib spoke the opposite of Mahomes giving nothing but praise to the young quarterback. Talib played against Mahomes in the week 17 game where Mahomes was playing with backups against most of the starting Broncos defense. He went on to say that he did not doubt that Smith would be a free agent this offseason. While he spoke about Mahomes having an “AK47 for an arm”, he had less to say about Smith.
"“I’ve seen Alex Smith in that Chiefs offense. It’s a bunch of guys who can be successful in that Chiefs offense and go to another offense and not be so successful. Their offense kind of runs itself. As long as you get a guy who can manage it, it kind of runs itself.”"
Former outside linebacker Tamba Hali spoke on Good Morning Football on NFL Network just this past week about what his plans were going forward and what he saw from Mahomes in practice last season.
When asked about Mahomes, the first thing that Tamba spoke about was him looking off great players like safety Eric Berry and cornerback Marcus Peters. In fact, he said that he looked off Peters a lot! Granted, if Mahomes was looking off Berry, that means he was doing it last summer as Berry went down with a season-ending injury in week one against the New England Patriots.
Hali went on to say how the second-year quarterback reminded him of the great Brett Favre. This is not even close to the first time that Mahomes has been compared to Favre. Another member of the Kansas City Chiefs staff spoke about how head coach Andy Reid compared the young gunslinger to Favre.
"“[Reid] absolutely believed Mahomes had some Favre in his game. We constantly heard the comparisons, especially his ability to improvise and extend plays. He raved about his gunslinger mentality and big arm, and how he could fit the ball into tight windows. Reid wasn’t bothered at all by the crazy throws that Mahomes would make into traffic. All of it reminded him of Favre.”"
With all of this being said, you have Kansas City Chiefs staff leaking information that Peters was getting torched by the rookie in practice, you have another former player who said that Mahomes looked Peters off a lot, the head coach comparing him to Brett Favre, and the general manager Brett Veach is saying that he’s probably the best talent he has ever seen. It would seem that Peters was trying to take some shots at the Chiefs and remain competitive.
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However, it should give some comfort to fans as we enter the Mahomes era if he was beating the Chiefs elite secondary talents like Berry and Peters with practice squad talent around him. Now let’s imagine what he can do with elite weapons like wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins, tight end Travis Kelce, and running back Kareem Hunt. It would seem the future is bright for the Chiefs.