The Kansas City Chiefs hit a grand slam when they traded up to land quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 NFL draft, and they might have Matt Nagy to thank for it.
Nagy, the former Chicago Bears head coach who was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator at the time, was apparently smitten with the Texas Tech gunslinger leading up to the draft. So much so, that he fed some inside information to Mahomes just before he was set to meet with the team.
Mahomes told the story, which he says Chiefs head coach Andy Reid didn’t even know until now, on Travis and Jason Kelce’s podcast:
This @PatrickMahomes story about how he ended up being drafted by the @Chiefs is WILD. 👀
(via @newheightshow) pic.twitter.com/P2y2eC5Cvv
— NFL (@NFL) December 1, 2022
Mahomes says he returned the favor later in the draft process, telling the Chiefs which teams had told him they were targeting him in the first round, so they knew when and where they would need to trade up on draft night to make sure they got him.
Nagy’s tenure with the Bears didn’t go so well, but he’s back in Kansas City now as Mahomes’ quarterbacks coach.
Who knows what would have happened if Nagy hadn’t tipped off Mahomes about which plays they were going to break down in that meeting.
