The Kansas City Chiefs have basically nothing left to accomplish. They won the last Super Bowl and the Super Bowl before that. They’ve won their division every year since 2015, and they haven’t finished below .500 since 2012. Their tight end is dating the most famous living American. Life is good.
How, then, do you stay motivated ahead of a season where you’ll be chasing history? If you’re quarterback Patrick Mahomes, you play with the limits of what is possible in an American football game.
Mahomes has been doing that his entire career, but on Wednesday he threatened to take things up a notch by dialing up a behind-the-back pass to running back Carson Steele during the Chiefs’ minicamp.
The two-time MVP feigned taking off running before firing a basketball-style pass in Steele’s direction, which the UCLA product deftly caught with one hand.
Mahomes previously has talked about unleashing the behind-the-back pass in a gameāand he has the approval of Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
“Coach Reid wants me to throw it behind-the-back more than anyone in the world,” Mahomes said on a First Things First appearance in May. “He deliberately puts in plays that when I have the opportunity to throw it. It’s not a coaching thing, it’s me not having that confidence to do it in the game. One of these games, man. We gotta do it. There’s too much hype in it. Hopefully it’s to Travis [Kelce].”
Kansas City opens its season on Sept. 5 against the Baltimore Ravens. We’ll see whether the pass comes with it.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce's popularity very obviously rose in the last year since he started dating international pop star Taylor Swift.
While the couple seems to be living their best lives, dating one of the world's most famous people comes with some difficulties. For Kelce, an issue for him is receiving too much mail.
At some point, the three-time Super Bowl champion's address was posted online, which led to a flood of packages and letters being sent to him. He admitted during this week's episode of New Heights, the podcast he co-hosts with his brother Jason Kelce, that he had to ask the post office to stop delivering mail to his house.
"The one thing you donāt realize, that when somebody posts your house online, that everybody now has your address and people just send stuff to your house," Kelce said. "So I literally stopped getting mail to my house. I had to stop. I had to literally tell the post office and everybody to, like, stop bringing stuff to my house."
A note for anyone who wants to send fan mail to Kelce, just remember that it's not even getting to him.
"Anything sent to my house, send right back to the sender," Kelce said. "So anybody thatās just sending random s--- to my house, uh, itās not getting to me."
It makes one curious how family holiday cards and credit card junk mail gets to Kelce.
The entire AFC is chasing the Kansas City Chiefs. Last week, some teams closed the gap during the 2024 NFL draft. Others saw it only grow wider.
But which teams did the best? Which added the most potential while also finding immediate starters? And, conversely, who failed to find enough help, making them vulnerable?
We analyzed and ranked all 16 of the AFC draft classes, going from least-inspiring to most.
16. Tennessee Titans
Tennessee did a nice job picking up OT JC Latham in the first round to bolster its offensive line, but the rest of the draft was underwhelming. The Titans gambled big on DT TāVondre Sweat despite his off-field concerns, and then selected three linebackers as the rounds clicked off. Not enough upside.
15. Buffalo Bills
The Bills traded back twice in the first round before ultimately selecting WR Keon Coleman with the first pick of the second round. Buffalo then decided to pass on a litany of other talented wideouts, instead loading up on the offensive line with four picks. The Day 2 choices of S Cole Bishop and DT DeWayne Carter were their best.
14. Jacksonville Jaguars
With a big need at cornerback, the Jaguars chose to select Thomas with their first pick.
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Jacksonville had the opportunity to draft any corner in the draft, but traded back to hoard picks. Fair enough. However, the Jaguars then took WR Brian Thomas Jr. instead of addressing a major need. Afterwards, Jacksonville took a kicker and a reserve running back, passing on more high-upside talent. Not awful, but not great.
13. Cleveland Browns
The Browns were once again without their first-round pick as a result of the disastrous Deshaun Watson deal, which gets hilariously worse by the year. Clevelandās first pick came Friday, when it took a high-upside defensive end in Michael Hall Jr. despite his lack of statistics at Ohio State. Down the board, the Browns finished the draft with three defensive players, hoping to find depth.
12. Denver Broncos
If Bo Nix turns out to be a quality quarterback, my team grade is going to look silly. If heās not, the Broncos are going to be spinning their wheels for the next few years. The Broncos were also without a second-round pick before taking edge rusher Jonah Elliss and receiver Troy Franklin in the middle rounds. Not a bad haul, but everything hinges on the 24-year-old quarterback.
11. Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins decided to go for an edge rusher in the first round, selecting Penn Stateās Chop Robinson to bolster depth after injuries to Bradley Chubb and Jaelen Phillips. In the second round, general manager Chris Grier took Miamiās future left tackle in Patrick Paul, a three-year starter at Houston. On Day 3, the Dolphins took another running back in Jaylen Wright. An intriguing class.
10. Houston Texans
The Texans didnāt have a first-round pick after trading back with the Minnesota Vikings, but they still had a nice haul. Houston got a pair of defensive backs on Day 2 with CB Kamari Lassiter and S Calen Bullock, before getting great value in Ohio State TE Cade Stover. Ultimately, Houston added a few potential starters plus depth.
9. Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati loaded up in the trenches, while also taking a pair of boom-or-bust SEC prospects. The Bengals used three of their first four picks on offensive and defensive linemen, including Georgiaās Amarius Mims in the first round. Mims is incredibly talented, but only started eight games for the Bulldogs. In the third round, Cincinnati gambled on WR Jermaine Burton, who has great film but character-driven red flags.
8. New York Jets
Protecting Aaron Rodgers was the top priority for the Jets, who picked Fashanu in the first round.
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The Jets started strong by taking OT Olu Fashanu to lock down the left side for years to come. However, after not having a pick in the second round due to the Aaron Rodgers trade, New York took a pair of running backs. The Jets also took WR Malachi Corley, a 215-pounder who can create yards after the catch. It was an offensively driven class with upside.
7. Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs hit on their two biggest needs in the first two rounds, trading up for WR Xavier Worthy and OT Kingsley Suamataia. On Day 3, Kansas City found quality value in S Jaden Hicks and CB Kamal Hadden, upgrading an already strong secondary despite the loss of LāJarius Sneed in a trade with the Titans.
6. Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore made an already strong roster even better, utilizing all three days of the draft. After getting good value at No. 30 with CB Nate Wiggins, the Ravens continued to take ready-made contributors in edge rusher Adisa Isaac, OT Roger Rosengarten and WR Devontez Walker, along with an intriguing talent in CB TJ Tampa.
5. Indianapolis Colts
The Colts understood their assignment going into the draft. They had to make second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson comfortable, and that appears to have been achieved. GM Chris Ballard landed receivers Adonai Mitchell and Anthony Gould along with a pair of mid-round offensive linemen. Indianapolis also added to its pass rush with edge Laiatu Latu, a potential star off the edge.
4. New England Patriots
The Patriots drafted a pair of receivers after selecting Maye with the third pick in the first round.
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New England did exactly what it needed to in the draft. The Patriots resisted the temptation to trade back and took Drake Maye as their next franchise quarterback. Then they spent the rest of the draft surrounding him with an improved offense ranging from receivers JaāLynn Polk and Javon Baker, to a pair of offensive linemen in Caeden Wallace and Layden Robinson.
3. Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders were patient, and that paid off. Instead of trading up into the top 10 for a quarterback, veteran GM Tom Telesco stayed at No. 13 and tabbed TE Brock Bowers. On the second day, Telesco upgraded the offensive front with G Jackson Powers-Johnson and OT Delmar Glaze out of Maryland. The Raiders still need a quarterback, but when they find him, heāll be in a better spot.
2. Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers needed to find talent across the board in this class after losing receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, among others. To that end, Los Angeles nabbed Notre Dame OT Joe Alt at No. 5 before trading up for WR Ladd McConkey in the second round. On Day 3, the choices of CB Cam Hart and WR Brenden Rice represent great value.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
Fautanu will likely start at tackle for the Steelers.
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Nobody in either conference had a better draft than GM Omar Khan and the Steelers. Pittsburgh found a litany of offensive linemen who could start soon between OT Troy Fautanu, C Zach Frazier and G Mason McCormick. Then thereās the third-round choices of WR Roman Wilson and LB Payton Wilson, both excellent values. Home run stuff from Pittsburgh.
Kansas City Chiefsā Patrick Mahomes appears to be taking notes from Americaās favorite pastime this offseason.
On Wednesday at Chiefs minicamp, a video of Mahomes winding up like a baseball pitcher and throwing a football Ć la knuckleball went viral, with many fans commenting on the star quarterbackās pitching form. Shortly after, Mahomes posted about the video and named a surprising source of inspiration for his baseball warmup antics: San Diego Padresā Matt Waldron.
Mahomes wrote on X, āIām trying to learn the knuckleball the Waldron dude from the padres throwsā
Iām trying to learn the knuckleball the Waldron dude from the padres throws ššš https://t.co/W7GeJv37yR
ā Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) June 12, 2024
Waldron has accumulated a 3.76 ERA in 13 starts for the Padres and, as MLBās Brent Maguire pointed out, is the only true knuckleballer in the MLB right now, throwing the pitch at a 37.6% clip.
Waldron, a Chiefs fan and Nebraska native, recently caught wind of Mahomesās comments and felt honored.
āIt's kind of crazy. Like I'm living in a different universe,ā Waldron said.
Mahomesās roots in baseball already run deep as his father, Pat Mahomes, was a reliever for the Minnesota Twins in 1992 and went on to pitch for five more teams in his 11-season MLB career. Mahomes never played baseball professionally but did play shortstop for his Tyler, Texas team in the 2010 Junior League World Series.
