KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Everything changed for the Kansas City Chiefs on April 27, 2017. That day, via trade with the Buffalo Bills, they moved up 17 spots to draft quarterback Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick.
But selecting the Texas Tech star was just half the story.
Days prior, coach Andy Reid told then-starting quarterback Alex Smith — a Pro Bowler the previous season — the Chiefs had spent a considerable amount of time before the draft identifying and targeting a specific quarterback. The surprise for Smith was just how much the Chiefs moved up to get Mahomes. The Chiefs’ effort to get him made it clear to Smith the 2017 season would likely be his last in Kansas City.
But what Smith did once Mahomes became a Chief, according to many in the organization, is the moment the franchise’s dynastic run began. That day, Smith, who was drafted No. 1 overall in 2005, made a conscious choice: Instead of keeping his younger understudy at a distance, or actively sabotaging his early days with the team — as he had seen on other locker rooms in the past — he would help mentor and nurture Mahomes as much as he could, despite the rookie’s growth ultimately spelling the end of Smith’s time in KC.
“I didn’t go up to Alex and go, ‘Hey, will you teach this guy who’s going to take your job?'” Reid said. “That’s not how it worked. I go, ‘Don’t worry about that guy. You just go have your best year.’
“He did that — and at the same time he let Patrick into his world.”
Since Mahomes became a starter in 2018, the Chiefs have taken over for the New England Patriots as the league’s most successful franchise. They have played in five of the past six Super Bowls, winning three Vince Lombardi Trophies in a five-year span. Along the way, Mahomes has become a two-time MVP award winner and a three-time Super Bowl MVP. And last week, he became the fastest player in NFL history (116 regular-season games) to reach 250 career touchdown passes.
Smith’s selfless approach toward Mahomes, according to teammates and staff, set in motion a culture within the franchise that has been followed by other veterans over the years. Former linebacker Anthony Hitchens, who retired in 2021, did the same for current linebacker Nick Bolton. All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney, who the Chiefs traded to the Chicago Bears this offseason, was the leader for All-Pro center Creed Humphrey and Pro Bowl right guard Trey Smith. Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, now with the Tennessee Titans, taught All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie how to be a lock-down man-to-man defender. And the teacher for running back Isiah Pacheco was backfield mate Clyde Edwards-Helaire. The examples go on and on and on.
When the Chiefs face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday (8:15 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN), they will enter the game with their sights set on another Super Bowl — a realistic goal that, nine years later, many in the organization acknowledge might not have occurred without Smith’s example.
“Aaron [Rodgers] and I were drafted the same year. I heard about he and Brett [Favre] and that it wasn’t great. We signed up to play a team sport, ” Smith said of the frosty relationship between the two Packers quarterbacks after Rodgers was drafted in Green Bay.
“I remember just promising [Mahomes] that I would never undercut him.”
WHEN SMITH BEGAN his career with the San Francisco 49ers, he was 21 years old. He made his first start in Week 5 of his rookie season. He also experienced something he thought was odd: No one on the coaching staff watched film with him. So, through trial and error, Smith taught himself how to examine his performances, how to study the opposing defense the upcoming week and what to take notes on to build a stable routine.
Twelve years later, with the Chiefs, Smith invited Mahomes into the film room in the team’s training facility. Their mission was simple: They both wanted to become a better quarterback.
“I needed to learn as much as possible from Alex,” Mahomes said.
As was the Chiefs’ plan, Mahomes spent almost his entire rookie season observing Smith on the field. But in between those games, Mahomes learned more and more about how Smith processed information from the defense before and after the ball was snapped, and why he made certain decisions within the framework of Reid’s scheme.
Smith was meticulous. He had a different film session — red zone, third-down plays, deep passes, the opponent’s secondary and the opponent’s blitzes — for each day of the workweek leading up to the game.
Looking back, Mahomes now says Smith imparted him with a simple yet massive lesson in those early days: before a defense tests him, he must have answers.
“Sometimes you see rookie quarterbacks in certain situations where they don’t have answers,” Mahomes said. “They don’t have a game plan of how they’re going to attack. You have to have a plan of, ‘If it’s not there, where am I going to go and how am I not going to create a negative play?’ That’s stuff that I learned from Alex.
“You’re not always going to be right, but if you’re not right, where is your answer? I wanted to be perfect with every protection call. But he would always say, ‘I have this plan, but if it’s not there, I know where I can get the ball out.’ That’s stuff that a lot of young guys don’t know.”
JADEN HICKS IS the player who represents the Chiefs’ most recent case study of a young player who was prepared for a larger role by a veteran who is no longer in Kansas City.
The second-year safety is one of the Chiefs’ most intriguing players — a dynamic defender who as a rookie last season led the team with three interceptions. The main reason Hicks had such early success is because he was learning from fellow safety Justin Reid, who is now with the New Orleans Saints.
Entering the 2024 draft, the Chiefs knew Reid, who had replaced Tyrann Mathieu in 2022, was entering the final year of his contract. They selected Hicks, a big-hitting safety with plenty of athleticism, in the fourth round. They shared similar traits: Hicks is 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds while Reid, also known for his physicality and versatility, is 6-1 and 207 pounds.
Midway through the season, Reid knew he was likely preparing Hicks to assume his role in the Chiefs’ secondary. He did it anyway.
Just before Hicks’ first-career interception, in a Week 7 win last year over the San Francisco 49ers, he had entered the game for Reid, who felt pain in his left hand after making a touchdown-saving tackle. On his third interception, Reid had told him exactly where to line up — switching spots with fellow safety Bryan Cook to disguise the secondary’s Cover 2 assignment — before the play.
The two still talk — and look out for each other — on a regular basis, despite being on different teams. In his first game without Reid — the Chiefs’ Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo — Hicks made mistakes in coverage on two of the Chargers’ touchdowns. Reid posted support for his former understudy on his X account.
“He’s such a good dude,” Hicks said of Reid. “That’s someone I can call on whenever I need something. He’s been a really great vet. I’m just blessed that I was able to have him while he was here.”
Since then, Hicks has improved his coverage. In last week’s win over the Baltimore Ravens, Hicks often kept moving before the ball was snapped to properly disguise his coverage assignment and where the Chiefs were blitzing from. The Chiefs pressured quarterback Lamar Jackson on 15 of his 27 dropbacks, the highest pressure rate (56 percentage) he has faced in a game where he had at least 10 dropbacks. Jackson’s two turnovers, an interception and a fumble on a sack, both occurred when he was blitzed.
“Just holding disguises, that can definitely throw off a quarterback, especially when he’s looking at safeties,” Hicks said. “That just changes up his whole game plan and you’re able to have him check it down or throw it into a coverage that he didn’t want to throw into.”
THE CHIEFS’ DEFENSE has been the best illustration of a unit paying it forward.
When Steve Spagnuolo joined the Chiefs as defensive coordinator in 2019, he quickly developed a reputation for trusting veterans over younger and inexperienced players. Safety Juan Thornhill was the lone rookie, among the 2019 and 2020 draft classes, to start every game. That began to change in 2021 when the Chiefs selected linebacker Nick Bolton. The second-rounder quickly gained a foothold in Spagnuolo’s complicated defense because of Hitchens, who, in his eighth and ultimately final year in the NFL, shared everything he could — from notes he had taken on Spagnuolo’s defense over the previous two seasons, to what were the most critical responsibilities for the green-dot defender (who relays Spagnuolo’s playcalls to his teammates) — with his rookie counterpart.
The next year, Bolton’s responsibilities increased. He became Spagnuolo’s green-dot linebacker and was prepared to return Hitchens’ favor when the Chiefs drafted linebacker Leo Chenal — a thumper who was ready to receive guidance — in the third round.
“We’ve got a great culture that Coach [Andy] Reid and Coach Spags have established, where you have guys taking guys under their wing that can possibly take their job in the future,” Chenal said. “It’s a business like that, but guys are so humble. When I came in, I had a great group of linebackers [Bolton, Willie Gay, Darius Harris, Jack Cochrane and Elijah Lee]. I just looked around and I was like, ‘Dude, we’re blessed because we’re all making each other better.’
“You don’t just learn as a student. You learn as a teacher, as well, when you’re teaching. It’s pretty cool to be a part of it.”
Including Chenal, the Chiefs selected seven defenders in the 2022 draft — using their two first-round picks on McDuffie and defensive end George Karlaftis, while also adding Cook and cornerbacks Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams and Nazeeh Johnson
All seven helped the team win the Super Bowl 10 months later. All seven are still with the organization this season. And all seven had a veteran — Bolton for the linebackers and Justin Reid for the defensive backs — ready to support them.
“When you’re actually witnessing it, it shows a great characteristic and the growth of people wanting to really win, the unselfishness [that’s required],” said defensive tackle Mike Pennel, who played in four Super Bowls with the Chiefs, helping the team win two rings. “Guys are excited to pass down knowledge.”
Karlaftis’ mentors during his rookie season were defensive ends Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap. Clark shared pass-rushing moves for Karlaftis to emulate and Dunlap taught him the importance of tipping and batting down passes; the rookie finished the season tied for second in the league with seven batted passes.
This season, Karlaftis, who has recorded 24.5 sacks in his first three years, can already see how this 2025 draft class, featuring four defenders, is mirroring the 2022 group — he is mentoring defensive end Ashton Gillotte, defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott is learning from All-Pro Chris Jones, cornerback Nohl Williams has McDuffie and Watson and linebacker Jeffrey Bassa is listening to Bolton and Chenal.
“They’ve been phenomenal,” Karlaftis said of the rookies, especially Gillotte and Williams. “They’ve put their heads down and worked. They’ve been awesome. They ask a lot of questions. They want it. They’re hungry. Every opportunity they’ve got out there, they’ve earned it.”
CHIEFS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Matt Nagy has seen three different versions of Mahomes over the years.
In 2017, Mahomes’ rookie season, Nagy was often in the room when Smith watched film and shared tips and advice with his understudy. In 2022, Nagy returned to Kansas City, becoming the offensive coordinator again after four years as the Chicago Bears’ head coach. In one of the Chiefs’ early voluntary offseason practices, Nagy was amazed — when he was seeing the quarterback up close again — by how much Mahomes had evolved, even during a simple install period.
“Just in and out of the huddle,” Nagy said. “Watching Pat, his tempo and pace was so fast. It was him yelling to all the players, ‘Jog back, jog back! Let’s go, next play!’ It was him leading it, him running it. He’s the guy.”
This year, Nagy is seeing Mahomes become an even greater commander of Reid’s scheme, a quarterback who has an answer for just about any question he might be asked from a teammate. Understanding and using his influence, Mahomes is one of the most vocal players during practices, a communicator who gives almost instant feedback to his offensive teammates following a repetition.
“He’s a conduit from the players to the coaches,” Nagy said of Mahomes. “Coach Reid might go to him on a few things behind the scenes, and he’ll give him a pulse of where things are. That’s very rare. The teams and coaches that have that know how fortunate they are.”
Similar to Reid’s coaching staff, Mahomes has lieutenants in the locker room, meeting rooms and the practice fields when it comes to newcomers and young players learning the nuances of Reid’s scheme and playbook. The top lieutenants are tight end Travis Kelce and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, each the most experienced player at their position.
Smith-Schuster, an eight-year veteran, was Mahomes’ No. 1 receiver during the 2022 season, his first year in Kansas City. When Smith-Schuster rejoined the team in 2024, following one year with the New England Patriots, he was Mahomes’ fourth-best receiver. But such a role was OK for Smith-Schuster, who understood that his biggest contributions for the Chiefs — helping with the development of fellow receivers Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown — might not be next to his name in a game’s box score.
“This offense is so unique that anybody can make plays, anybody can get the ball,” Smith-Schuster said. “Being able to know the concepts, the plays, the defensive scheme, it makes a lot of the other guys’ jobs easier when you can get them open.
“Every locker room is different. This team personally, they’re a very open book when it comes to guys saying what they see and what they want. We’re the guys on the field. At some places, receivers and some guys are not allowed to talk. It’s all run by the coaches. Here, it’s very cool to have guys like [receivers] Coach [Connor] Embree, Nagy and Reid that let us listen to them and then let us teach.”
Even in training camp this year, Nagy loved watching Smith-Schuster letting rookie Jalen Royals get some of his reps with first-team offense. Nagy, who credits Smith-Schuster for “acting like a coach,” knows the faster Royals improves might result in Smith-Schuster getting less snaps during games.
The player who has been in Reid’s system the longest — longer than Mahomes, Nagy or more than half of the assistant coaches — is Kelce, who is in his 13th season.
Two of the standout performers in camp this summer were receiver Tyquan Thornton and tight end Robert Tonyan. Nagy credits their emergence to Kelce’s leadership.
Perhaps the skill-position player who was most happy that Kelce chose not to retire in the offseason was Rice, Mahomes’ No. 1 receiver, who, as a rookie in 2023 recorded 938 yards, the most for a Chiefs receiver since 2021, Tyreek Hill’s final year before he was traded to the Miami Dolphins.
In 2023, Rice led the Chiefs with seven touchdowns. One of the biggest lessons Rice learned from Kelce was through a four-word phrase: Think like a quarterback. Rice applied those words in the Chiefs’ 2023 postseason run. In four playoff games, Rice made 26 receptions on 33 targets, and 195 of his 262 yards were gained after the catch.
Rice showed even more refinement in his route running — one of the traits Kelce is most known for — early last season before season-ending right knee injury in Week 4 in a win over the Chargers.
In two weeks, Rice, who is in the middle of serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, will return to the lineup — and resume his route-running apprenticeship with Kelce, who could be in the final season of his illustrious NFL career.
“Rashee is watching,” Nagy said. “When Kelce moves on, guess who has the torch now? Rashee starts to see that.”