The 2023 regular season may not have been Patrick Mahomes‘ best work since entering the NFL, but 2024 is expected to be a huge year for the 28-year-old. Mahomes looked like his old self in the playoffs and the Kansas City Chiefs brought in two electric wide receivers during the offseason.
That could set up Mahomes for a return to elite form, with many opining that he may throw for 50 touchdown passes again, like he did in 2018. It’s hard to believe that 23-year-old Mahomes sat on the bench for a full season as a rookie, but Alex Smith was the solid incumbent starter. Even during that first season, though, Travis Kelce knew Mahomes was destined for greatness. And he knew because of how he “demoralized” the Chiefs defense in practice.
Patrick Mahomes diced up the Chiefs defense on the scout team as a rookie
Kelce was asked by the Pardon My Take podcast crew how soon he knew Mahomes was going to be “the one“. The tight end then went into detail about Mahomes’ performances playing with the backups against the Chiefs’ starting defense during practices.
The s**t he was doing in those practices was mind-blowing. He had no, like, filter. He was just out there like, ‘oh this doesn’t matter’. I could just throw it over here. The defense is just demoralized in practice. They’re like, ‘what the f**k, this kid’s dicing us up right now’.
Kelce then spoke about Mahomes getting his first career start, in the final game of the season in Denver. Mahomes didn’t light up the scoreboard, but his composure was enough for Kelce to realize greatness was coming soon.
Chiefs could use Travis Kelce in shocking role that no one ever expected in 2024
Travis Kelce is Kansas City’s emergency long snapper
Kind of, but not really. He’s still Mahomes’ security blanket and top receiving target, but he’s surprisingly the team’s backup long snapper and could do the job if the starter gets injured. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub admitted as much in a recent interview.
See, Kelce’s our backup long snapper. During the regular season, I can throw him in there and he’s dynamite, does a great job.
The question wasn’t random; starter James Winchester was briefly injured during the team’s recent preseason game and backup tight end Noah Gray had to fill in for him.
Kelce wasn’t playing by that point in the game, so he wasn’t used in place of Winchester. But if the same thing happens during the regular season, we would likely see Kelce snapping the ball to the holder.
