Flashback to when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Chicago Bears last season on “Sunday Night Football.”
After a touchdown during the game, QB Patrick Mahomes was spotted counting to 10 on his fingers. At the moment it seemed to be of little significance, but people later pieced together what it meant. The Bears selected QB Mitchell Trubisky with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. They passed on Mahomes, who fell to No. 10, where the Chiefs were able to trade up and select him.
Mahomes wouldn’t admit that this was the specific significance of his celebration.
“I’ve seen the video and I’ve seen people talking about it,” Mahomes said following the game. “For me, it’s just going out there and playing football and loving it while you’re doing it.”
As the Chiefs get prepared to face the New York Jets in Week 8, Mahomes was reminded that the Jets also took a pre-draft interest in him, bringing him in for a private workout. They ultimately passed on Mahomes at No. 6 overall in favor of DB Jamal Adams, who they traded to the Seattle Seahawks this season.
“Yeah, I mean I definitely thought there was interest there,” Mahomes told reporters on Wednesday. “Whenever you get on those visits, you know they’re pretty interested in doing their due diligence, so I mean I definitely thought there was some interest there. At the time they drafted a great player in Jamal Adams, so you can’t really argue with that one.”
Mahomes could still harbor some frustration toward another team that passed on him in the draft. Sure, Adams is a great player, but the Jets didn’t think Mahomes was good enough to be their franchise quarterback. That might be all the motivation he needs to have a big day when New York comes to Kansas City in Week 8. Maybe he’ll even count to six as a touchdown celebration during the game.
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