‘We got it done!’: The inside story of how Patrick Mahomes landed with the Chiefs

[Sassy Squatch]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...d-with-chiefs/

We got it done!’: The inside story of how Patrick Mahomes landed with the Chiefs

Sometime after the fall of 2015, Brett Veach, then the Kansas City Chiefs’ director of player personnel, was studying offensive linemen for the upcoming NFL draft. As Veach evaluated game film of Texas Tech offensive tackle Le’Raven Clark, another player on the screen distracted his focus. The Red Raiders’ sophomore quarterback made one unfathomable throw after another. He overcame his rawness with uncommon athleticism.

Those clips formed the basis of an obsession for Veach. And they were the Chiefs’ unofficial introduction to Patrick Mahomes.

On Saturday, Mahomes will continue his incandescent first season as Chiefs’ starting quarterback in a divisional round game against the Indianapolis Colts, both the NFL’s presumptive MVP and an avatar for the sport’s future. Mahomes passed for more than 5,000 yards and threw 50 touchdown passes, leading the Chiefs to 12 wins and the AFC’s top seed. His starburst, at age 23, made clear Mahomes could turn the Chiefs into an annual Super Bowl contender.

As Mahomes readies for his postseason debut, it is worth revisiting how the Chiefs landed perhaps the most valuable asset in professional football — and in the process kept him away from other pursuers. What began with Veach studying Clark ended with the Chiefs setting their course for 10 or 15 years. They traded two first-round picks and a third-round pick to move up to the 10th spot in the 2017 draft to poach Mahomes, then incubated him for his rookie season before unleashing him on the NFL. The process required personal connections, dogged pursuit, bold action and a little luck.

“This was a case of probably the perfect storm in a whole bunch of ways,” Mahomes’s agent Leigh Steinberg said in a phone interview.

“When I told him we work with Patrick, he was like, ‘Let’s slide out of here and talk a little bit,’” Cabott recalled in a phone interview.

Veach informed Cabott the Chiefs had grown enamored of Mahomes. At that point, Veach may have been talking out of turn. He loved Mahomes and believed, contrary to consensus, Mahomes was clearly the best quarterback available. But Veach had yet to cultivate the opinion throughout Kansas City’s organization.

In Cabott, Veach had a fellow Mahomes evangelist. Cabott discovered Mahomes while watching him play a bowl game as a freshman. He called a member of his agency’s board and said he had seen the best quarterback in the 2017 draft. He started cultivating a relationship with Mahomes’s family, eventually summoning the nerve to cold-call Mahomes’s mother, Randi, at work.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

Am I the only one who ever sits back and wonders what it would be like had he wound up elsewhere? What if the Bears had taken him? And somehow we wound up with Trubisky or Watson? What would it be like watching this generational QB from afar and dreaming of having someone that dominant?

It really helps me put how amazing this entire season has been into perspective. However it ends. We'll never have an experience like this in our lives again. It's magic.

I still pinch myself

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by SAUTO

Something I read in that article made me think Dorsey might've been the one not totally sold on it

I dont believe it. I think thats a false narrative that was put out there by the organization. I think the organization does that alot to make its people look better.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by eDave

Should be a movie.

[Frazod]

I think I understand now why Arians seemed to hate us so much when calling games.

[SAUTO]

Perhaps the most valuable asset in football.


750 million doesn't seem far fetched.

And I read an article today saying ABC will be in the mix for Sunday games (iirc ABC) and with all the internet options the contract money to the nfl is only going up. Contrary to what some have been saying.

More competition means more money.

[sedated]

Man. Wow. Great inside look, and damn KC is lucky.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I think I understand now why Arians seemed to hate us so much when calling games.

Hah. Didn't even think about that.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by Dante84

Veach contacted his agent at least once a day for 94 straight days.

Jesus Christ.

Thank God for Brett.

Veach will be with the Chiefs as long as Peterson or until he retires

[dj56dt58]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

I spoke with their RB coach in Vegas (at a topless pool, wife was hot).

They def would have drafted him.

This reply is worthless without pics

[dj56dt58]

Originally Posted by Kiimosabi

Skins fan in the comments: "Why would anyone want to play in a small market like KC? Patrick should have done what Elway and Eli Manning did. Refuse to show up if drafted."


So their fans are as inept as their organization. Peyton Manning, anyone?

Patrick wouldn't do that, he's not a douche like those guys

[Hammock Parties]

We are gonna have so many MNF and SNF games at Arrowhead next year.

4 minimum

[Buns]

That was a great article. I couldn't stop reading this article earlier in the season.

https://sports.yahoo.com/chiefs-fina...165452074.html

Man, this feels ****ing great.

[Buns]

Honestly, y'all, I go back and read the Draft Day thread. WE ARE ON THE CLOCK

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...d-with-chiefs/

We got it done!’: The inside story of how Patrick Mahomes landed with the Chiefs

Sometime after the fall of 2015, Brett Veach, then the Kansas City Chiefs’ director of player personnel, was studying offensive linemen for the upcoming NFL draft. As Veach evaluated game film of Texas Tech offensive tackle Le’Raven Clark, another player on the screen distracted his focus. The Red Raiders’ sophomore quarterback made one unfathomable throw after another. He overcame his rawness with uncommon athleticism.

Those clips formed the basis of an obsession for Veach. And they were the Chiefs’ unofficial introduction to Patrick Mahomes.

On Saturday, Mahomes will continue his incandescent first season as Chiefs’ starting quarterback in a divisional round game against the Indianapolis Colts, both the NFL’s presumptive MVP and an avatar for the sport’s future. Mahomes passed for more than 5,000 yards and threw 50 touchdown passes, leading the Chiefs to 12 wins and the AFC’s top seed. His starburst, at age 23, made clear Mahomes could turn the Chiefs into an annual Super Bowl contender.

As Mahomes readies for his postseason debut, it is worth revisiting how the Chiefs landed perhaps the most valuable asset in professional football — and in the process kept him away from other pursuers. What began with Veach studying Clark ended with the Chiefs setting their course for 10 or 15 years. They traded two first-round picks and a third-round pick to move up to the 10th spot in the 2017 draft to poach Mahomes, then incubated him for his rookie season before unleashing him on the NFL. The process required personal connections, dogged pursuit, bold action and a little luck.

“This was a case of probably the perfect storm in a whole bunch of ways,” Mahomes’s agent Leigh Steinberg said in a phone interview.

“When I told him we work with Patrick, he was like, ‘Let’s slide out of here and talk a little bit,’” Cabott recalled in a phone interview.

On Jan. 18, 2017, after Mahomes had declared for the NFL draft following his junior season, Veach traveled to southern California to scout prospects at NFLPA Collegiate Bowl practices. Chris Cabott, Steinberg’s partner, was there, too, chatting with scouts and getting a pulse on teams’ intentions. Veach and Cabott were friendly and talked frequently, but this conversation turned serious.

Veach informed Cabott the Chiefs had grown enamored of Mahomes. At that point, Veach may have been talking out of turn. He loved Mahomes and believed, contrary to consensus, Mahomes was clearly the best quarterback available. But Veach had yet to cultivate the opinion throughout Kansas City’s organization.

In Cabott, Veach had a fellow Mahomes evangelist. Cabott discovered Mahomes while watching him play a bowl game as a freshman. He called a member of his agency’s board and said he had seen the best quarterback in the 2017 draft. He started cultivating a relationship with Mahomes’s family, eventually summoning the nerve to cold-call Mahomes’s mother, Randi, at work.

FYP: You left out a paragraph. Reads much better with the missing paragraph. (W/O it, Cabott is a mystery.)

[Bump]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

John Dorsey's Fanboys scoff at that notion

hey man, if Veach is responsible for Mahomes, then he can stay as long as he wants. I never really got the whole story on everything because I was only paying half attention to football for a couple of years.