The greatness of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes comes in large part from his ability to extend plays, by running around behind the line of scrimmage while always looking for an opening to deliver the ball in the blink of an eye, or faster.
He wants that to change.
Specifically, he wants to be able to know what’s going to happen before a given play begins.
Mahomes explained to Albert Breer of SI.com that he’s looking to learn more about how Tom Brady did it. Mahomes’s has a resource this year, in former Brady backup Blaine Gabbert.
“Talking to Blaine, who’s been with Tom for the last few years now, to see how advanced Tom was, it’s just knowing that I can get there one day. I just got to continue to work and ask Coach [Andy] Reid questions, ask Blaine questions,” Mahomes told Breer. “It just makes the game a lot easier when you can plan, and you know exactly what a defense is gonna do. Every year I come back, I want to take that next step on the mental side of the game.”
Gabbert told Mahomes that Brady always had an answer, for every look he saw.
“There’s sometimes, even to this day, you get into a coverage, you just don’t see it,” Mahomes said. “Luckily for me, I’ve been able to scramble and make plays happen. To be able to, pre-snap, always have an answer and make the game even easier. This is a hard game where defenses are doing a lot of different stuff. You rarely saw Tom get tricked. . . . That’s where I want to get to, instead of having to rely on scrambles. That all looks cool, but I want to be able to have the answer even before the snap of the ball.”
It’s an important skill to develop, because eventually Mahomes won’t be as nimble as he now is, long before the magic ages its way out of his arm.
The legs always go before the arm. Brady used his knowledge of defenses to accelerate his delivery of the ball after the snap. That’s how it will change for Mahomes, in time.
He won’t be running around with his hair on fire and throwing from every body position and arm angle. He will still be firing the ball quickly and decisively, executing the throw before the walls close in.
And, once he knows what’s happening before the ball is snapped, he’ll lay the foundation to play deep into his forties.
