KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be on the opposite sideline as his former college head coach again this week.
When the Chiefs host the Washington Commanders on Monday night, Mahomes will see the familiar face of Kliff Kingsbury on the opposing sideline. His former head coach at Texas Tech is in his second season as the offensive coordinator for the Commanders.
“He’s one of the first people I would say that truly believed in me playing the quarterback position,” Mahomes said Thursday. “He helped me get to where I’m at today because he didn’t put me in a box and tell me I need to play quarterback this way.
“He let me just go out there and be myself, and play the way that got me there. And I think that’s something that’s special about him as a coach.”
In fact, Kingsbury was one of the first to believe Mahomes would be a quarterback at the collegiate level. During his recruitment, Mahomes visited Texas for a recruiting camp and was sent to the safeties group.
“I went to walk to the quarterbacks, and they were like, ‘We’re actually bringing you here for the safeties,’” Mahomes recalled. “So that was kind of, at the time I did play safety, and I had a lot of picks. I understood that but I knew I didn’t like tackling people. So I knew that wasn’t gonna be for me.”
Luckily for everyone in Kansas City, Kingsbury wasn’t on that line of thinking.
“Coach Kingsbury never ever forced me to be a pocket passer,” Mahomes said, “or hold the ball a certain way. He just let me play.”
It’s a similar coaching style to what Mahomes has received under Andy Reid with the Chiefs.
“Same with Coach Reid and (Matt Nagy) when I got here,” Mahomes said. “They wanted to keep refining and refining, but at the same time, they want me to go out there and just play the game the way it got me here.”
Mahomes and Kingsbury remain in touch but might be exchanging fewer messages this week ahead of the Monday night matchup.
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