How are Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady alike? Chiefs backup QB says 2 words describe both
Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert considers himself lucky.
The last three seasons, he played behind Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. This year, after signing a one-year deal with the Chiefs, he gets to practice alongside Patrick Mahomes.
“They are the two best, in my opinion, to ever play the game,” Gabbert said Thursday.
And quickly, the former Missouri Tigers quarterback Gabbert said he has started to pick up on some similarities.
Yes, Brady and Mahomes are different in how they play the position. But they aren’t so dissimilar in how they approach the meeting room and practice field.
“They’re maniacal perfectionists,” Gabbert said, “and I mean that in the most endearing way possible.”
During his short time in KC, Gabbert said he’s already seen impressive attention to detail from Mahomes. Though Mahomes is in his seventh year in the Chiefs’ offensive system, Gabbert has seen him take extensive notes in the meeting room much like a rookie would.
“You need to refresh every single year,” Gabbert said. “There’s always something that he wants to work on, always something to improve on and always something to get better at.”
The 33-year-old Gabbert said he didn’t need much offseason convincing to take on this new role with the Chiefs.
Before signing with the team, Gabbert spoke extensively with Chad Henne, who was Mahomes’ backup for the last four years in KC before he announced his retirement in February. Henne was complimentary of the entire Chiefs coaching staff, Gabbert said, which ranged from coach Andy Reid to offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to new quarterbacks coach David Girardi.
“He’s somebody that I trust his opinion on, and being (that) last year I think was his 15th year ... he’s been around the block quite a bit,” Gabbert said of Henne. “And he spoke very highly of the organization. Really, it was an easy sell at that point.”
Gabbert has become a journeyman in his own right. Drafted with the 10th pick in the 2011 draft, Gabbert is joining his sixth NFL franchise with the Chiefs.
He sees that path as beneficial given his role in the KC quarterbacks room, saying he hopes to offer wisdom and experience even if he doesn’t get into football games.
“I’ve been around a lot of teams, a lot of coaches, a lot of offensive systems,” Gabbert said. “So just asking, not really the quote ‘dumb question,’ but just starting conversations on seeing things different ways, doing things different ways. It just kind of engages people to see a 10,000-foot view of football.”
Gabbert is already plenty familiar with another of his Chiefs teammates. That would be left tackle Donovan Smith, who played with Gabbert for the last three seasons with Tampa Bay.
When Gabbert first met up with Mahomes at KC practices, he told him Smith would help the Chiefs win games; Smith is looking to bounce back this season after grinding through multiple injuries a year ago.
“Extremely gifted,” Gabbert said of Smith. “One of the most athletic, physically gifted left tackles that I’ve seen going on 13 years now.”
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach spoke at the NFL Combine in February about hoping to add a backup quarterback who could “mentally challenge Pat” while saying his preference was to fill the QB room with ”just the highest IQ people possible.”
Gabbert said he planned to use his previous knowledge to pose high-level football questions while in the Chiefs facility.
“There’s so many ways to complete a pass, run a concept. In every coaching staff — every tree — every scheme is different,” Gabert said. “And I’ve yet to be in this system before, so it’s definitely a learning curve. But if we can just take bits and pieces from every system I’ve been in and just apply it, start a conversation, that’s a good thing.”
For now, Gabbert admits he’s mostly in learning mode. He has the advantage of having gone through this often before, joking that he was pretty good at learning offenses at this point in his career, whether that was positive or negative.
“But it’s been a blast,” Gabbert said. “It’s definitely been refreshing, being in the last system for four years, really five going back to Arizona with (coach) Bruce (Arians). It’s been a nice change of pace.”
Gabbert said his KC days so far have been filled with lots of studying. That’s included numerous FaceTimes with Girardi in hopes of gaining more insight into the new offense.
“Just going over the plays, going over the script,” Gabbert said. “So it’s just like back to school for the first day.”
