Arrowhead Pride
After Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid confirmed rumors that quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be a full participant to begin training camp, the MVP signal-caller talked through the latest checkpoint in his goal to start Week 1 “Monday Night Football” against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium.
The press conferences marked the official start of camp, which could be one of the most challenging ever for Mahomes. Wearing the non-contact jersey that every quarterback wears in camp, it’s important to remember that “100%” in St. Joe doesn’t mean “100%” for a regular-season status.
To that point, coach Reid doesn’t see camp being much different for Mahomes, expressing that when asked about it by reporters on Friday afternoon.
“I don’t think it will be,” Reid answered. “We’ll see about the games and all that once we get there, but right now… he’s been given clearance.”
“It was always the goal to be able to practice when we got to training camp,” Mahomes told reporters during his press conference. “So we’ve kind of hit that next step, and now, it’s just going to be about building.”
After months of private rehabilitation, Chiefs Kingdom will now have eyes on their favorite quarterback for the rest of his journey to being ready to start in the season opener on September 14th.
Mahomes sounds locked in on proving to all spectators that the injury and its recovery process won’t stop him from playing the position at its highest level.
“You have to continue to work,” Mahomes said about himself. “Get better and better, and go throughout practice, prove to the coaches, prove to the doctors, everybody, that I’m the same quarterback I was before, if not better, and I can go out there, take care of myself and win football games.”
“It’s a long process; the process isn’t over,” Mahomes acknowledged. “It’s something I’ll probably deal with for the next few years of my career and throughout the rest of my career. You have to stay on top of that stuff, but I feel comfortable now being able to go out there and run the offense the way it’s supposed to be run.”
The Chiefs’ starting quarterback is ready for full-time practice, comfortable wearing a brace because he wore one in college. There’s no plan for when he could shed the additional protection.
Regardless, Mahomes made it clear at one point in the press conference that he won’t be satisfied with any limited version of himself.
“I plan to be able to do everything I did before,” Mahomes said.
From here, he is focused on a list of things to improve on, just like any other year.
“I’m obviously going to try and take care of myself a little bit better than I did last season,” Mahomes pointed out. “I think I ran a little bit too much last season, so I’ll try to be better with that.”
The gunslinger was also reflective of his play before an injury came into the equation.
“I...
