KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was only a 7-on-7 session at Wednesday’s organized team practice activity — better known as OTAs — but Patrick Mahomes and Hollywood Brown teamed up for a play Chiefs didn’t see much last year.
A long-ball throw for a touchdown.
Brown extended his right arm to haul in a deep pass from Mahomes and cradled it to his chest before tapping his feet in the end zone and crashing to the ground. Brown popped back on his feet, extending both arms above his head and bellowing a mighty roar in celebration.
That made a lasting impression on linebacker Nick Bolton.
“You all saw Hollywood made a one-hand catch in the back of the end zone, that’s pretty nice,” Bolton said. “It was on a roll around 40-yard pass. You’ve got to shake his hand on those. But we’ll definitely take some deep shots early this year.”
Indeed, the Chiefs hope Wednesday’s highlight-reel play is just one of many for Mahomes and Brown this season. In 2022, Mahomes was one of the better quarterbacks in the league on deep passes with 912 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions for a passer rating of 107.1 — which was amazingly a down season for him.
Last year, however, the long-ball game fell apart for the Chiefs. Mahomes completed 28.6% of his passes more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage with just one touchdown and a career-worst six interceptions for a meager passer rating of 34.1.
Mahomes believes it’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
“I’ve seen it the entire offseason from working in Texas to here,” Mahomes said after practice Wednesday. “I remember the first day I told guys like Drue (Tranquill), ‘He tracks the down the field well and he can really go.’ I think you all saw it today, I’m giving him chances downfield, and he’s making the plays happen. The more plays he makes, the more we’ll continue to give him those chances.
“(He’s) a good addition to our offense.”
Head coach Andy Reid agrees.
“Hollywood does a nice job out there as a receiver,” Reid said. “It looks like he and Pat are developing a nice little chemistry there.”
Roll Call
The Chiefs opened OTAs on Monday for the first of 10 practices over three weeks. The 10 workouts are voluntary, and players are under no contractual obligation to attend. Some players can earn workout bonuses for attending the sessions, ranging from $20,000 for receiver Justin Watson to $1,000,000 for Mahomes. Players typically must attend 70% to 80% of workouts to earn their bonus.
Wednesday’s snapshot showed six veterans absent from practice. Left guard Joe Thuney, recovering from offseason surgery for a torn pectoral muscle, is not expected to be on the field until training camp. Tight end Travis Kelce did report for the first day of workouts Monday but was not on the field Wednesday.
Also absent were defensive tackle Chris Jones, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, wide receiver Kadarius Toney and defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs. Reid did not disclose if any of the players were rehabilitating injuries.
Defensive end Charles Omenihu (torn ACL) and defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi (torn tricep) appeared midway through practice as observers after working inside the training complex during the first portion of practice.
Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy was also an observer only on Wednesday after tweaking his hamstring on Tuesday, but Reid liked what he saw in his quick glimpse of the first-round selection with the full squad.
“What we saw was somebody that was smart, understood what was being thrown at him, and then somebody that can run pretty fast,” Reid said. “We just basically got through the introduction stuff to him, so he was only out there for a day and a half but he got a nice introduction to things.”
Notes & Observations
Overcast skies eventually gave way to bright sunshine as the Chiefs worked out for approximately an hour and 40 minutes late Wednesday morning into the early afternoon. It was picture-perfect conditions for spring football, and there was much to like on both sides of the ball.
The practice consisted of the standard stretch and conditioning period followed by position drills and a group install followed by an extended special teams session, team blitz, 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 passing.
The 11-on-11 team blitz period included 10 plays with five featuring Mahomes, three for backup Carson Wentz, and one each for Chris Oladokun and Ian Book. The quartet of quarterbacks completed seven passes with just a missed connection between Mahomes and Brown on a deep post and a drop by Justin Watson hitting the ground. Cornerback Keith Taylor intercepted Wentz after Skyy Moore slipped on his break and hit the turf.
One of those competitions had a bit of an asterisk as Tranquill perfectly timed a blitz off the left tackle side that would have blown up the play. Tranquill pulled up (it’s a non-contact practice without pads) and Mahomes dumped the ball off to tight end Noah Gray.
The 24 snaps during 7-on-7 featured more fireworks, beginning with an interception of Mahomes by cornerback Kelvin Joseph on the second snap. The throw was intended for Rashee Rice. Mahomes gave props to Joseph during his post-practice scouting report.
“I think we have a lot of guys that have come in – I mean Joseph had the pick on me today – we have a lot of guys that have come in and shown they can really compete and be players for us,” Mahomes said.
The aforementioned one-handed grab by Brown came three plays following the interception. The offense also reached the end zone on another big play when Wentz dropped a deep dime into the hands of receiver Montrell Washington for an easy touchdown. Oladokun had a strong pass of his own with a perfectly thrown back-shoulder ball to receiver Jaaron Hayek for a nice gain.
When the offense moved into the red zone, Mahomes immediately hit pay dirt in finding rookie tight end Jared Wiley working the back of the end zone against Bolton in coverage. Mahomes later made one of his patented off-platform throws, slinging sidearm off his back foot to receiver Justyn Ross running left to right along the back of the end zone.
The defense made two big plays late in the 7-on-7 session with rookie safety Jaden Hicks breaking up a pass from Went intended for Irv Smith Jr. Hicks was involved in a couple of broken-up passes on the day. Cornerback Chris Rolland-Wallace closed the period by intercepting a pass from Book to Washington.
The last 16 plays of the final team passing period included two nice catches by Smith Jr. as well as sharp execution from Went to Rice for a red-zone touchdown.
Putting the Fun Back in Kickoffs
While every NFL team is tinkering with the new kickoff rule, it’s a safe bet no team will get more creative and adventurous than the Chiefs under special teams coordinator Dave Toub. Reid said the coaching staff is still trying to get a feel for the best way to utilize the new rule.
“Toub is doing a nice job,” Reid said. “We’re trying to work on it. You can’t block full speed, so it’s tough to get a full grasp of that whole thing. It’s going to be interesting. I’m not sure any of us are going to know until you really boot the thing off.”
The Chiefs practiced with one wrinkle Wednesday, alternating kickoffs between normal kickoff specialist Harrison Butker and safety Justin Reid. Since blockers and the coverage team can’t move until the ball is touched, there’s not necessarily an upside to hangtime and even kick placement may not be as premium concern so long as the ball hits the landing zone. The head coach said having Justin Reid as the last line of defense could prove an advantage.
“Once you get through that first wall, there’s not a whole lot past that other than that guy,” Andy Reid said.
One thing for sure, however, is that the kickoff shouldn’t be a dull play anymore, he added.
“It’s going to be interesting,” the head coach explained. “There seems to be some options that you can do with it. A little bit like the run game, potentially there are things that you can maneuver around with. Having the two up-backs like they have and then the two guys receiving the ball, it’ll open up some options that maybe the other group didn’t have.”
Back on the Field
Two defensive backs were on the field Wednesday, lending a boost to the Chiefs secondary and putting them on track to return to full action by training camp.
Safety Bryan Cook (ankle) and cornerback Nazeeh Johnson (torn ACL) participated in position drills and the defensive install period. The duo did not work in team drills or 7-on-1 work but the club hoped that both players could participate in limited activities during OTAs. Chamarri Conner filled in for Cook at free safety.
Teammate Trent McDuffie said he was energized to see Cook back on the field.
“It’s exciting, battling injury and just seeing somebody back out there smiling, having fun, running around, getting in and out of his breaks,” McDuffie said. “You love to see when a guy gets to come back from that.”
Mahomes Scouting Report
This week’s practices weren’t the first time that Mahomes worked with his new pass catchers and tight ends as nearly every draft choice and free agent addition made the trek to Texas to work with the quarterback earlier in the offseason.
His scouting reports on some of the new faces:
- Worthy: “I think you can tell how intelligent he is, he is asking the right questions. Before he had the hamstring thing he was getting in, he was getting the work in. Sometimes it’s tough with those guys coming off combine training and they want to prove what they can do from day one and little injuries like that happen. We’re going to be precautionary right now – he could probably get out there if we really wanted him to. You can see he’s sitting right beside the guys asking all the right questions and whenever he does get back on the field, I’m excited to get to work with him.”
- Fourth-round tight end Jared Wiley: “The more he gets downfield he can really make those tough contested catches. I want him to play even more physical – I know it’s hard in OTAs you can’t really bump and do stuff like that. I think he can make those tough contested catches in the middle of the field and he’s faster than people think he is. He played good.”
- Second-year receiver Nikko Remigio: “Nikko has done a really great job being back. He was at the whole time we were in Texas getting the work in.”
- Fourth-round safety Jaden Hicks: “He’s a big dude and he’s going to get better and better. You can see it early, he has the physical ability.”
What’s Next?
Chiefs players have the Memorial Day weekend off before returning for the second week of OTAs on Tuesday with workouts May 28-30. The practices wrap up the following week with sessions June 4-7. The offseason program concludes with the mandatory minicamp June 11-13. The practices are closed to the public.
