Patrick Mahomes rescues Matt Nagy’s reputation with an incredible NFL Draft story

Patrick Mahomes revealed an absolutely legendary story about how he ended up being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs that does a lot of work rebuilding Matt Nagy’s reputation. 

Like hash marks between the down-and-distance, nuance is what makes the NFL more than just a game.

Hearing anecdotes about this legendary thing or that iconic moment is the NFL equivalent of a Making-Of feature that deepens our appreciation for great films; the extra texture to football that further invests fans.

There have been a handful of these types of anecdotes about Kansas Coty Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but the best one yet was dropped by the man himself.

Appearing on the podcast New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelcke, Mahomes revealed that the person who was perhaps most instrumental in getting him to the Chiefs was disgraced ex-Chicago Bears head coach and Man Who Never Has To Buy Himself A Drink In Kansas City Ever Again, Matt Nagy.

Not only was it Nagy who was the first person to truly be sold on Mahomes, he helped the quarterback cheat on his pre-draft meeting so that Andy Reid would be impressed to the point of obsession.

“I’m going to give you the inside scoop. Matt Nagy, who was the offensive coordinator then, he really liked me so he gave me the plays they were going to go over the night before,” Mahomes explained. “So of course, I crushed the meeting. I stayed up all night studying those plays.”

Once Nagy lit the spark, the rest was history.

Not only was Ried onboard, but Mahomes wanted to be in Kansas City to such an extent that he went as far as to essentially force the Chiefs to trade up for him so that he didn’t get drafted by another team.

Listen to Patrick Mahomes tell legendary Matt Nagy NFL Draft story

As Mahomes tells it, he gave the Chiefs some ‘inside information that other teams in the middle of the first round had told him their plan was to draft him if he was on the board.

“As the process went on, I sort of got the feeling that I was going up in the draft. I had a couple of teams that said they were going to draft me,” he said. “I kind of gave a little inside information to the Chiefs. I was like hey if y’all let me go anywhere [12th overall] or below I’m going to get drafted by someone else.”

It’s likely that the Chiefs already knew this information, and it’s not a secret that another team would have taken him if Kansas City had not traded up. Perhaps the most famous What-If story about Mahomes is that Sean Payton and the Saints were almost certain they were going to draft him before the Chiefs jumped them.

So Mahomes probably didn’t tip the Chiefs off by telling him other teams were going to draft him, but his speaking up likely sealed the deal that everyone involved wanted to partner up and make what was then a dream the reality it is now.

The real takeaway here is that the most instrumental person in getting the Mahomes-to-Kansas City ball rolling was Nagy, who has been much maligned in recent years after failing as head coach of the Chicago Bears.

With one single story, Mahomes has taken Nagy’s reputation and — as much as possible — washed the stains left by his time in Chicago. Just like he does on the field, Mahomes needed less than a minute to completely flip the script and pull off redemption.

Furthermore,  Bears fans who will hear this and still try to gripe with Nagy will have to admit that Nagy’s parting gift in Chicago was drafting Justin Fields. It’s hard to hear this story about so badly wanting Mahomes and being right about his gut feeling and comparing it to the Bears trading up to draft Fields — who this season has begun to take the kind of strides that franchise quarterbacks take in their second year.