Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has shown off a variety of passing styles during his NFL career, including no-look passes, jump passes and even throwing left-handed.
On Saturday, during the Chiefs’ preseason game against the Detroit Lions, Mahomes tried out a new move: the behind-the-back pass.
After rolling to his right, Mahomes attempted a trick pass to Travis Kelce under pressure from Lions defensive lineman Josh Paschall, who gained eight yards and a first down on the play, leaving the Chiefs with a field goal.
Mahomes threw “meanly.”
Mahomes, speaking with CBS Sports after leaving the game, said Kelce was supposed to run a different route on the play, which upset Mahomes, who then improvised a “mean” behind-the-back pass.
“I was mad at Travis. He was supposed to run a flat route. I don’t know if you heard on the broadcast, but I was yelling at him, and he didn’t run it,” Mahomes said. “So I threw him a pass from behind out of spite, and now that’s going to be the highlight.”
Saturday wasn’t Mahomes’ debut behind-the-back pass. He’s been working on it in practice for weeks, completing passes to Isaiah Pacheco and Carson Steele.
The latest magic from the three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL MVP drew an echo from some of the notable spectators who attended Saturday afternoon’s game.
Jason Kelce, the brother of Travis Kelce and a former NFL center, watched the game and posted to X, “This dude really did it!! Magic Mahomes…he got a fever from doing it in the preseason. We need more cowbell.”
Patrick Mahomes showed off some more depth in a preseason game on Saturday (Photo by David Uhrit/Getty Images)
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas was in attendance at GEHA Field and summed up Mahomes’ decision perfectly: “It was unnecessary but awesome!!!”
Mahomes said this week that he’s itching to try passing in a game and that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is pushing him to make it happen.
“He’s all for it,” Mahomes said. “I’m the one who’s hesitant to do it in a game.”
But Mahomes said the most important thing about practicing this new type of pass is “if you do it, it’s going to work.”
It worked well on Saturday, so don’t be surprised if we see it again during the regular season.