Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is one of the best at his position in the game right now, and he's only getting better. The Super Bowl champion and league MVP has two years as a starter under his belt and it turns out, almost this whole time he has been setting records without knowing how to read the defenses he was facing.
The guy who can sling it without looking and dodge pass rushers in a way that even leaves opposing fans sitting back in amazement went on HBO's The Shop (Warning: Language NSFW) and explained he didn't know how to read defenses until "halfway through last year."
What is even more mind-blowing than what this 24-year-old has done in the short time he has been in the league so far, is that he's been doing it without really knowing what he was up against.
He went on to describe his playing style, saying:
"I understood coverages but how to be able to pick up little tendencies defenses do, stuff that Brady and them have done, they know it, and they just do it. I was just playing."
His "just playing" is throwing for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in one season -- becoming the only QB to do so other than Peyton Manning -- and nearly making it to a Super Bowl his first year as a starter. Impressive to say the least.
Studying film and reading defenses are two areas where a lot of great quarterbacks get their edge over the others. For someone like Mahomes, who has physical gifts that far exceed some of the greats, adding this aspect could elevate him to a spot others could not reach.
Bad news for the rest of the NFL, his ability to read defenses will only get better with time.
"This year I could actually recognize more and more stuff. The more experience and the more I learn then I'll be able to go out there and call plays and do all that different stuff because I've seen it," he said. "I still think there's a long way for me to go there."
Mahomes said reading what was coming at him helped with calling plays, and when he got better at it he was able to make more effective calls.
The young star is nowhere near done improving and says, "I think mentally I can get a lot better. Physically, I've done a lot of stuff, I always work on my fundamentals. But mentally, I can still take my game to a whole other level."
Unlike some other players in the league, Mahomes didn't start with an NFL dream when he was really young. No. 15 was a baseball player and only started playing quarterback, full-time his junior year of high school, just about six years ago.
Safe to say he's picked it up rather quickly.
