Opposing coach praises Patrick Mahomes for his cool hand during trying 2023 season
The Athletic on Monday released its annual quarterback tiers as voted by NFL coaches and executives, and what makes the ranking so interesting is not who tops the list.
It’s Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, of course.
But the rankings also include what those NFL people say about the quarterbacks, and it’s fascinating to hear the comments about Mahomes.
For instance, here is what a defensive coordinator said about the Chiefs’ last two Super Bowl championships: “I know people who were taking Philly or San Francisco in the Super Bowl. Dude, they are playing Mahomes. You take Mahomes. He’s like Brady when Brady was in his prime. You can’t bet against that dude because he’s the best in the business.”
Another defensive coordinator asked: “Is there a zero category (above Tier 1)?”
Praise for Mahomes’ patience
It wasn’t just defensive coaches who had good things to say about Mahomes.
The Chiefs’ receiving corps had a number of issues a season ago, but Mahomes never publicly criticized anyone. Mahomes’ response made an impression on opponents.
“Last year, there was so much adversity with the drops, the Kadarius Toney issues, the lack of guys being able to uncover and separate,” an offensive coach told The Athletic. “You knew as a competitor he was frustrated. But I watched him just battle and grind it out and not make excuses and dig in. I think he is an extremely tough human being. A lot of people could have been (ticked off and complained). If that had happened, the whole thing could have unraveled.”
That thought was echoed by ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, the former NFL quarterback. While on the Y-Option podcast, Orlovsky talked about a production meeting he was part of with Mahomes.
“We all know that they were not a talented offense,” Orlovsky said. “We all know the Chiefs led the NFL in drops. Led the NFL. And I will never forget, I sat in a production meeting with Patrick Mahomes, and we were talking about the drops, and we were trying to get him to, I don’t want to say, like, not be politically correct with his response. We were trying to get frustration out of him. He kept saying, ‘We all just got to get better. We all just got to keep working.’
“Never once blamed the guys who their one job is to catch the ball, never once pinned it on them. And I just would — I marveled at that. ... It was always ‘we.’ (Saying,) ‘We got to get better. We got to get better. I can throw it better.’ And I think so many of these young quarterbacks can just learn from that one focus point, and they end up winning the Super Bowl. And I firmly believe that they, in many ways, end up winning the Super Bowl because their guy never once blamed those other people. It was always about we.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2024 at 10:54 AM.
