Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes spoke out about his rehab this week, and not surprisingly, the news was positive. Mahomes wants to be back on the field for Week 1 of the 2026 season, and he thinks he’s got a chance to get there.
But Mahomes delivered a different message to the Chiefs. It had nothing to do with his rehab, and everything to do with the design of the Kansas City offense.
"I just want someone that loves football, that cares about football, wants to give everything they can to win, to hold people accountable, and then to bring new ideas every single day,” Mahomes said in a piece written by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk.
That’s not a shot at Mahomes’ old coordinator, either. The quarterback knew OC Matt Nagy was on his way out the door, and so did nearly everyone else once the Chiefs dropped below .500. Nagy is currently interviewing for head coaching jobs, and at this point no one knows if he’ll actually get one given how busy the coaching carousel is right now.
But the Chiefs OC position is a strange job. Nagy was responsible for the weekly offensive game plans, but everyone knows this is Andy Reid’s offense, and Reid does a lot more than just rubber stamp these game plans.
Mahomes’ message was indirectly intended for Reid. The Chiefs offense frequently looked stagnant last year, especially down the stretch. Opponents knew a lot of what was coming, so stopping Kansas City was all about doing as much as possible to limit the quarterback’s creativity.
They did a pretty good job of it, too. Mahomes was limited by a battered offensive line and wide receivers who were prone to drops, and it felt like it was only a matter of time before the inevitably serious injury occurred.
“That’s something that we have to continue to do if you want to continue to be great in this league,” Mahomes added, “is you have to continue to evolve and get better and better and that’s something that we’ll try to do here and I want to get back to that winning culture of being accountable to each other and going out there and playing great football every single day, practice or game.”
Reid is undoubtedly listening, but will Mahomes get what he wants? The Kansas City coach is 68, and it’s going to be hard to teach him new tricks at this point. A younger coordinator might have plenty of new ideas, but who knows if they’ll actually see the field. Something has to change in Kansas City, and at this point it’s impossible to know what that change will be and how drastically it will alter this offense.