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Wolvaardt On Playing Tests: It's Like Last-minute Studying For An Exam
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In what the Kansas City Chiefs hope is a sign of things to come, one of the last plays from their recent minicamp was a long touchdown pass. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes got rid of the ball in time to beat the blitz and threw deep downfield to Marquise Brown for a touchdown.
Such plays were infrequent for Mahomes and the Chiefs last season. Some of their biggest offseason moves, including signing Brown and drafting Xavier Worthy, were aimed at bringing that type of play back to the Chiefs' offense.
"I think we've done a great job of mastering the intermediate and short stuff, but we want to get back to having that part of the offense as well," Mahomes said. "Coach [Andy] Reid is really pushing us to push it down the field. It's hard to do against our defense but we're trying to make it happen."
Mahomes was the NFL's MVP in his first season as a starter in 2018, throwing 50 touchdown passes and for more than 5,000 yards with many deep throws mixed in. But last year, as the Chiefs wide receivers were largely a disappointment, his throws on average were the shortest of his career (7.0 yards).
On more than half of Mahomes' passes, the intended receiver was less than five yards past the line of scrimmage. His throws averaged just more than six yards past the line of scrimmage. As a result, just 13% of his completed passes went for 20 yards or more, the lowest percentage of his career.
That's why Brown and Worthy were two of the Chiefs' biggest offseason priorities. Brown once was timed at 4.27 in the 40-yard dash. Worthy set a scouting combine record this year by running 4.21.
"Both of those two can run well and I think both love to play the game and are good football players, so I think that that'll help us," Reid said. "It doesn't hurt to have [downfield] speed. We've functioned without the great speed down the field and done well, but if you have an opportunity to get somebody that you think is a good player, just not a speed guy, but a good football player, I think you probably need to take advantage of that."
The Chiefs have had fast receivers since Mahomes became their starter. Tyreek Hill ran a 4.24 40-yard dash when he was coming out in the draft. Mecole Hardman, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Sammy Watkins and Justin Watson aren't in Hill's category but fast nonetheless.
But they haven't had two speedy receivers playing together like Brown and Worthy.
"Those guys are blazers," Watson said. "They're at a different level of speed and defenses are going to have to back up.
"We had a lot of debates and conversations I would say the last two years about who's the fastest [among Chiefs receivers] and I would always put my name in that ring. I'm going to defer it to one of those two. Those guys can absolutely fly."
Brown averaged 12.3 yards downfield every time he was thrown the ball last season, when he played for the Arizona Cardinals. He averaged 11.8 yards in his career and has never been below 10.7 yards in a season.
"I've seen it the entire offseason from working in Texas to here," Mahomes said before the Chiefs ended offseason practice. "He tracks the ball down the field well and he can really go . . . I'm giving him chances downfield and he's making the plays happen. The more plays he makes, the more we'll continue to give him those chances. He's a good addition to our offense."
Worthy didn't practice much after being drafted by the Chiefs because of a sore hamstring, but the Chiefs expect him back for the start of training camp.
Even without him, Mahomes still hit a good share of deep throws. He spread the ball between Brown, Watson, Rashee Rice and others.
"They're definitely taking advantage of us playing some coverages, learning some things and trying some different things out," linebacker Nick Bolton said. "We've got a lot of speed and Pat trusts those guys to go out there and make plays . . . We'll definitely take some deep shots early this year."
Reid has always wanted Mahomes to look for receivers down the field but has encouraged him to do so even more this year. Mahomes said Reid asked him at one point why he was throwing so many checkdowns.
Not all of his throws during the offseason were checkdowns and certainly not the one near the end of minicamp to Brown.
"Seeing the blitz, I kind of just put my head down, trusting that he was going throw it," Brown said. "I looked up and the ball's in the air and I just made a play.
"We're fast. We're definitely fast. We're going to put a lot of pressure on people for sure. I just think it's going to be exciting. I think everyone should be excited for it."
