Chiefs fan-favorite quickly raises eyebrows at OTAs with help from Mahomes

One player on the Kansa City Chiefs offense has received the praise of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and he made a great highlight in OTAs on Wednesday.

The Kansas City Chiefs are on top of the NFL mountain right now, as they won Super Bowl 57 after an epic comeback against the Philadelphia Eagles. This offseason, they did have some departures, most notably wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman. With that, an obvious area of focus this upcoming season will be the wideout position, and how they will perform. It certainly helps that Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback, and considering he won an NFL MVP award this past season without Tyreek Hill on the roster.

This offseason, Mahomes has heaped praise on second-year wide receiver Justyn Ross, the former star for the Clemson Tigers. And in organized team activities (OTAs) on Wednesday, Mahomes and Ross showed off their connection. And of course, the Chiefs social media team provided the video of Mahomes’ throw to Ross.

Patrick Mahomes and Justyn Ross show off connection in OTAs

As if Chiefs fans couldn’t be more hyped, Mahomes himself shared a tweet of the video and included the “eyeballs emoji” as his caption.

Back in April, Mahomes was asked about Ross, who missed the entire 2022 season, and he hyped up his talent and work ethic.

"“Yeah, I mean, the talent is through the roof,” Mahomes said, h/t Arrowhead Addict. I think anybody can see that and I think he’s gotten better and better even though he wasn’t active all year long, he was in the building and he was able to see the guys, and how we do things and listening and being in some of the meetings and stuff like that. And so I’m excited for him to get out there and be able to get the reps and practice and, and get the, the little fine details that we like to do in this offense.”"

Ross was one of Trevor Lawrence’s top pass-catching options at Clemson. In his first two years, he caught 112 passes for 1,865 yards and 17 touchdowns in 28 games played. However, Ross missed the entire 2020 season after undergoing a congenital fusion of his upper cervical spine and another fusion one level below. He did return for the 2021 season, but he recorded just 46 receptions for 514 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games played.

Once considered to be a high pick in 2022, he went undrafted. But, he signed a deal with the Chiefs days after the event. Ross missed the entire 2022 season due to foot surgery.

Now, Ross will look to earn some reps for the upcoming campaign, which the Chiefs ideally want to repeat as Super Bowl champions. But, the team does have a lot of players at the position, such as Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, and second-round draft pick Rashee Rice. So far in OTAs, Ross is making an early statement.