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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes‘ preparation for the upcoming season began as it usually does, hundreds of miles from Kansas City. Mahomes again put out a call to Chiefs’ receivers and backs for some throwing sessions close to his offseason home near Dallas, Texas.
Mahomes said he finds that football isn’t necessarily the most valuable part of the workouts. Getting to know some of the new players, like wide receiver Marquise Brown and former rugby player Louis Rees-Zammit, is.
“What I find most enjoyable is just building those relationships with guys,” Mahomes said. “Every single team is different … Getting them down here and seeing them outside the building, trying to do different things, trying to get dinner, whatever it is, you get to meet the guy and I think that’s what brings the team closer together. That’s something that I enjoy especially about this part of the year.”
The Chiefs started their offseason program on Monday, but Mahomes and the participating skill players are still in Texas. Coach Andy Reid, in a nod to the length of the Chiefs’ season in recent years, started the offseason program virtually with meetings over Zoom.
“It gives the guys a little more time away from here, but at the same time they get some of their offseason evaluation work done and the opportunity to move forward into this next season,” Reid said. “On Zoom, you can get everything done that you need to do there with the video and/or new things that you may want to slip in there.”
The program moves to Kansas City later in the spring. Until it does, Mahomes will continue organizing the workout sessions. Neither Reid nor any member of his staff is present, so Mahomes serves as the coach, at least outside of the virtual meetings.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s too much different than being up at the facility [in Kansas City],” he said. “I think just the guys hearing it from me because we get the workouts in before the meetings, hearing how I explain things, how I explain the routes, what I’m kind of thinking, and then getting to go into the meeting room and hear the coaches and how they explain this stuff and how we blend that together. I think it’s just that good one-on-one interaction with me . . . To be able to explain my thought process, I think it gives guys a good intro into what the coaches are thinking and the coaches can really detail the details.”
Brown is the Chiefs’ major addition. He is two years removed from his best NFL season, when he caught 90 passes for more than 1,000 yards with the Baltimore Ravens. Brown spent the past two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.
The Chiefs haven’t had a wide receiver hit either of those marks since Tyreek Hill in 2021. Mahomes said Brown has a good chance to get there.
“You see the speed,” Mahomes said. “But I think what I’ve liked so far is how hard he works. He’s been at the workouts, he’s been at the route running and he wants to continue to push himself more and more and I think he’ll have a great role in this offense. The way he’s able to run routes, the way he’s able to stretch the field. I think it’ll be even different than you’ve seen him before because I think we could utilize him in different ways that I think he hasn’t been utilized in yet.”
