There's never quite a true shortage of praise for Patrick Mahomes, as the face of the Kansas City Chiefs is well-established as the best player in the NFL. With that said, those around the team and in the media can occasionally forget just how talented he is.
While current teammates and coaches generally do a solid job sharing their Mahomes stories, former members of the organization or outsiders may have even more interesting tales. Longtime NFL offensive lineman Kyle Long fits into the latter category.
Long, who was a member of the Chiefs during the 2021-22 campaign, recently appeared on the This Is Football podcast with Kevin Clark to discuss his time in Kansas City. The three-time Pro Bowler compared watching Mahomes in practice to working a top-secret operation.
"There were 30 days where I couldn't wait to get out of the meeting to call my dad," Long said. "The post-practice meeting. I'd get out of practice and I'd either call my wife or I'd call my dad or I'd call Chris (Long). I'd just laugh and he'd be like, 'What?' and it was like I worked at Area 51 and I couldn't quite talk about it."
One of Long's main selling points elsewhere was the collaboration of Mahomes with head coach Andy Reid and his staff. The longtime Chicago Bears guard appears to be very fond of his time in Kansas City, as he had nothing but good things to say about the team's processes and standards during his brief stay with the franchise. Mahomes, of course, was a major part of that.
Long elaborated on his experience being a teammate of Mahomes, naming some of the most influential athletes in sports in the process. To him, it was more than just having a good signal-caller in the huddle. Even without playing a single snap as a Chief, he caught a glimpse of an all-time competitor.
"As you and I know, we could only dream of being in the locker room with Michael Jordan or being in the clubhouse with, you name it, the best baseball players or Shohei (Ohtani) and then Tiger Woods. Well in football, albeit I didn't get to play in any football games with him, Patrick Mahomes was that for me and I think I'm not the only one who has that feeling. And they get to share that locker room with him. He's a man to them, and then he puts his helmet on and it becomes something else."
The timing of Long's applause is ironic; this is the worst Kansas City offense in nearly a decade. Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy's group ranked 15th in scoring and ninth in yards during the regular season, both franchise-worst marks since 2016 when Alex Smith was still quarterback. That's led many to question whether the Chiefs can compete for and win a championship, even with one of the best defenses in the league. Going on the road for the Divisional Round this weekend, the Chiefs opened as underdogs against the Buffalo Bills.
Long doesn't doubt his former team, though. He thinks that with No. 15 under center, winning a championship next month is possible.
"Uh, yeah, 100%," Long said. "I think Patrick's so damn good, he could throw it up to himself and catch it. We looked at the way this offense looked the other night, and Travis had three drops. And they were still rolling, and the ball was a brick. The ball was a brick, OK? Do not let that go without noticing. It's cold out, it hurts to get hit, but the ball is exponentially harder to catch and throw. So I look at those plays, and that's missed opportunities. That could've been every bit a blowout as we saw in Houston."
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