It wasn’t difficult to get a pulse of Kansas City Chiefs’ fans Saturday morning at training camp on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.
They know they’re witnessing the beginning of something special, and a lot of that has to do with the recent success of the team under head coach Andy Reid, who has guided the Chiefs to the third-most wins in the league since he joined the organization before the 2013 season, but it’s also due in large part to second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
It’s a palpable excitement that’s spread across the community, the country, and is obvious when walking around training camp and seeing the number of #15 jerseys in the stands.
It’s all for a player that even with all the talent in the world has still only started one game in his career. It’s a new journey that Chiefs’ fans have waited a long time for with a quarterback of their own who was drafted by the team.
“There’s a lot of excitement here in Kansas City and really around the country about Patrick [Mahomes],” Chiefs’ Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt explained Saturday after practice, which featured one of the largest crowds in the history of Chiefs’ training camp. “Obviously, he’s a young man with a lot of skills, has a very high ceiling. He’s going through the process of learning what it means to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. It’s very exciting for the franchise from a long-term perspective.
“If you can develop your own quarterback who can play at the top of the league you create an opportunity over the course of the decade to win a championship, and that’s what we’re hoping that [Mahomes] does for us.”
Hunt said he’s seen all the excitement out of the head coach as well.
“Andy [Reid] is a pretty even-keeled but watching him at practice during the OTAs, seeing him here at training camp, talking to him, he’s clearly excited about what this 2018 team can do,” Hunt noted.
Hunt followed up on what he meant by him seeing that excitement out of Reid over the last few months.
“I would say it’s a bounce in his step,” Hunt added. “I know that’s a hard thing to imagine when you’re talking about Andy, but truthfully, he seems energized. It really goes all the way back to the offseason. I think the thought of getting to take a young quarterback, molding him—something he’s had a lot of success at in his career. He also knows the capability of the skill players that are around Patrick.
“As somebody who’s really an offensive guru, I think it’s hard for him not to be excited and when you have a young quarterback. It’s not like you’re near the end of the journey, you’re at the beginning and it should only get better each year.”
Hunt said he felt that excitement at camp on Saturday and believes the players are feeding off that energy as well.
“I think one of the most entertaining parts of practice today was the red zone drill with the receivers working against the defensive backs,” Hunt said. The players were enjoying it. I think they were really feeding off the crowd that was right there behind them.”
The energy is building by the day as the players continue working towards the first preseason game of the year, which takes place next Thursday night as the Chiefs host the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium.
