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USATSI

The Kansas City Chiefs sent shockwaves around the NFL last week when they made the decision to trade Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a boatload of draft picks. 

The trade was so surprising that even Patrick Mahomes was caught off guard by one aspect of the deal. Although the Chiefs kept their starting quarterback in the loop as trade talks developed, the former NFL MVP revealed this week that there was still one aspect of the trade that surprised him. 

"It more surprised me whenever it got to the point where we were really considering trading him," Mahomes said during an interview with Sports Illustrated on Wednesday. 

The comments were the first ones that Mahomes has made publicly since the deal went down. 

Apparently, Mahomes never thought things would get to the point where the Chiefs would think about trading their star receiver, which makes sense, because even Hill's agent didn't envision it happening. After the trade went down, Hill's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, revealed last week that he came close to getting a new deal done in Kansas City, but things fell apart after Davante Adams got a new contract from the Raiders following his trade from Green Bay to Las Vegas. 

After the Adams trade happens, the possibility of Hill getting dealt became very real and the Chiefs' front office made sure to keep their star quarterback posted on all trade talks involving the receiver. Despite the fact that he KNEW what was about to happen, Mahomes says he was still little shocked by the trade. 

"They kept me updated the entire time; I knew the extension talks were going on," Mahomes said. "And then I knew when he got the permission to seek to get traded. But I mean, still, I played my entire career with Tyreek, so definitely, there was a little bit of shock when he got traded."

Mahomes would have preferred to keep Hill, but he also noted that he's very happy for his former teammate, who ended up landing a five-year, $142.5 million contract from the Dolphins. 

"I know that we made a tremendous effort to try to keep him in Kansas City," Mahomes said. "Tyreek, he's such a tremendous player, he got what he deserved. I'm happy for him. And he's at a place where he has a home and he's closer to family and stuff. So I'm very happy for him. We had to move forward."

Of course, the Chiefs didn't come away empty-handed in the deal. Not only did they free up nearly $20 million in salary cap space, but they also ended up getting five draft picks from the Dolphins, including a 2022 first-rounder.

"We had to move on and try to get as much as we could for him and try to build that receiving room again," Mahomes said. "And do it to where we have the ability to go out there and compete every single week, which I trust [Chiefs general manager] Brett Veach and Coach [Andy] Reid will do."

Mahomes has been the Chiefs staring quarterback since 2018 and the upcoming season will be the first time he's had to play without Hill, who has put up some monstrous numbers with Mahomes. In the four years that the two played together, Hill averaged 1213.5 yards and 10.75 touchdown catches per season. 

Those numbers won't be easy to replace, but the Chiefs are already trying. Hill was traded on March 23 and in the eight says since then, the Chiefs have added multiple veteran receivers, including JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.