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One of the staples of NFL coverage these days is that you can never have enough Patrick Mahomes stories, and Ben Solak of ESPN went there in a big way as he listed the injury recovery of the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback as one of the top storylines coming into training camp.
It’s a brilliant example of stating the obvious, but it is important. Mahomes might be the ultimate example of a “six degrees of separation” player, as any significant story about him tends to reverberate throughout the league.
The Chiefs and Mahomes have been selling hope and optimism as as the main features of this story for months, but crunch time is almost here. The Chiefs’ opening game is on Sept. 14, so the NFL scheduling crew has definitely done its part behind the scenes to make sure his Week 1 recovery holds up as a story line.
There are questions, though, and Solak raised some good ones. The first was about whether Mahomes would participate immediately in training camp, but that one’s mostly moot.
A better question was about those meaningless preseason games we’ve all grown to hate. Coach Andy Reid typically plays his starters some in these games, and this year there’s a slightly more urgent need to see what Mahomes can do minus that sporty yellow non-contact jersey he was sporting in OTAs and minicamp.
It seems unlikely that Reid would do this, given that photos of Mahomes to date have been limited to those thrilling shots of him handing off to new running back Kenneth Walker III. The odds are that Mahomes’ initial serious work will happen behind the scenes, especially given the injury risk that’s now more present than ever.
One important clue could be whether we see new backup quarterback Justin Fields on the field doing significant quarterback things for Kansas City. The Chiefs talked up Fields initially after trading for him, but the reports on Fields spraying throws in minicamp quickly shut down the conversation.
Lately there have been mentions that the Chiefs might install a package of short-yardage plays for Fields to run, but none of this has been anything close to confirmed.
We will see Fields on the field a lot, though, and that raises another potential question. If the Chiefs really don’t like what they have with Fields, seventh-round QB Garrett Nussmeier could get some playing time, which would be another intriguing indicator.
Continue reading...
It’s a brilliant example of stating the obvious, but it is important. Mahomes might be the ultimate example of a “six degrees of separation” player, as any significant story about him tends to reverberate throughout the league.
The Chiefs and Mahomes have been selling hope and optimism as as the main features of this story for months, but crunch time is almost here. The Chiefs’ opening game is on Sept. 14, so the NFL scheduling crew has definitely done its part behind the scenes to make sure his Week 1 recovery holds up as a story line.
There are questions, though, and Solak raised some good ones. The first was about whether Mahomes would participate immediately in training camp, but that one’s mostly moot.
A better question was about those meaningless preseason games we’ve all grown to hate. Coach Andy Reid typically plays his starters some in these games, and this year there’s a slightly more urgent need to see what Mahomes can do minus that sporty yellow non-contact jersey he was sporting in OTAs and minicamp.
It seems unlikely that Reid would do this, given that photos of Mahomes to date have been limited to those thrilling shots of him handing off to new running back Kenneth Walker III. The odds are that Mahomes’ initial serious work will happen behind the scenes, especially given the injury risk that’s now more present than ever.
One important clue could be whether we see new backup quarterback Justin Fields on the field doing significant quarterback things for Kansas City. The Chiefs talked up Fields initially after trading for him, but the reports on Fields spraying throws in minicamp quickly shut down the conversation.
Lately there have been mentions that the Chiefs might install a package of short-yardage plays for Fields to run, but none of this has been anything close to confirmed.
We will see Fields on the field a lot, though, and that raises another potential question. If the Chiefs really don’t like what they have with Fields, seventh-round QB Garrett Nussmeier could get some playing time, which would be another intriguing indicator.
Continue reading...
