THE MAN!
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2023/...huge-advantage
First, [Patrick Mahomes] dialed [head coach Andy Reid], then offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. He asked both the same question: Would they mind if he remained in Texas, at his home training base, but invited all of his offensive teammates? He threw in a twist. He didn’t want to hold informal workouts, like many quarterbacks. He wanted to lead Phase 1 of Kansas City’s offseason program, wanted to bond and teach. Both coaches embraced the idea because of what it signified—growth, wherewithal, ownership.
Mahomes had never before adjusted to more than two new receivers. Three free-agent signees—JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson—came to Fort Worth. With input from the coaches and an assist from his private quarterbacks coach, Jeff Christensen, Mahomes devised a schedule with [Travis] Kelce. The group would meet every morning. They would practice routes for between 75 and 90 minutes, searching for timing and rhythm. They would hold virtual meetings with the coaches after that to install the next day’s plays; break down film, sharing insights and preferences; and stay late for anyone needing extra work.
There is a marked difference between playing catch, bonding and planning paintball excursions, vs. legitimately getting the chance to install an offense on a completely “voluntary” basis, away from the team’s facility but with the support of the coaching staff if needed. There would be no running up against time restrictions as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement with the players union. I’m not at all suggesting what the Chiefs did was wrong or that they subverted any rules; I think it was brilliant. Allowing Mahomes’s self-organized offseason workouts to bleed into actual offseason training activities, which Reid then made virtual, gave the team a chance to smooth the transition after an offseason of significant change on the personnel side. It also (likely) allowed them to head into training camp with a higher floor of understanding, which, in a severely truncated period of time that usually hampers a coach’s ability to be creative, is the definition of a winning edge.