As Patrick Mahomes the other day considered what he hoped to get out of this preseason, he stressed some points you might well have guessed — including, yes, getting the ball downfield more and better.
But then there was this: To “up my mentality,” as he put it. Which is saying something for a guy well-known as an obsessive competitor.
“Sometimes you get to camp and you just want to go out there and dominate the day,” he said on Thursday at Chiefs training camp at Missouri Western State in St. Joseph.
But that’s not enough now for Mahomes, who has been so sharp in camp as to seem downright revitalized. So much so that Travis Kelce felt compelled to say “his arm is alive right now.”
As ever with Mahomes, though, it’s not just the arm that’s vital.
Aug 9, 2025; Glendale, Ariz, U.S.; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) warms up before their preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Aug. 9, 2025. Joe Rondone/The Republic Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
It’s all about mindset, among ample other things, even entering the preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night at State Farm Stadium.
So as he’s (suddenly) entering his ninth season perhaps more driven than ever — both toward further greatness and redemption from the last Super Bowl debacle — he’ll now tell you he seeks “to dominate every single rep.”
With zero pun intended, he even applied that mentality to a practice period spent working on shifts and motions.
So no going through the motions even while literally ... going through the motions.
Which brings us to how this played out Saturday night, when his every rep registered in a somewhat wacky way:
In a couldn’t-count-less 20-17 loss to Arizona, Mahomes played all of 48 seconds, took three snaps and was on the field for two plays that counted — a handoff to Isiah Pacheco and a 1-yard touchdown pass to an outstretching Jason Brownlee.
And … that’s a show, reckoned coach Andy Reid, who had managed to keep a straight face Thursday when he suggested Mahomes would play a quarter but on Saturday acknowledged the reality.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) fakes a handoff to running back Isiah Pacheco (10) against the Arizona Cardinals during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium on Aug. 9, 2025. Mark J. Rebilas Imagn Images
“I told him he’d get a series,” Reid said, pausing slightly for effect and adding, “if he was lucky.”
Meaning he’d prefer to encase him in bubble wrap over making him any more vulnerable to a gratuitous injury than he needs to be.
So Mahomes’ stat line read thusly: 1-1 for 1 yard and a touchdown with a 118.8 quarterback rating.
(For what it’s worth, that’s 13.4 points above his NFL postseason record 105.3 rating among quarterbacks who’ve played more than five playoff games.)
And he was good with what happened after the Chiefs’ Jack Cochrane forced a fumble on the opening kickoff that was recovered by Chris Roland-Wallace at the Arizona 13.
Never mind that his play was done less than a minute into the game.
“I didn’t lobby (for more),” Mahomes said by his locker, smiling. “I let Coach Reid handle it. But, I mean, obviously I wanted to get in there a little bit more.
“But he said one series … and one series turned into one throw.”
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) waves before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Aug. 9, 2025. Joe Camporeale Imagn Images
Here’s the thing, though.
His game wasn’t over just because he wasn’t going to get back on the field.
Reflecting his sense of himself as a dedicated teammate, his sheer passion for the game and innate understanding of how he affects everyone around him, Mahomes was engaged the rest of the night.
Late in the first half when safety Deon Bush suffered an Achilles tendon injury that Reid said would require surgery, Mahomes was the first player to cross the field from the sideline to take a knee at Bush’s side.
A moment later, some dozen or so teammates made the cross-field trek to console Bush as he was about to be carted off. Along with Reid, he made a similar gesture when teammate Cam Jones was down, too.
And Mahomes was repeatedly in the ear of offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, never more visibly than in the final 4 minutes of the game — more than three hours after he’d been removed.
With the Chiefs facing third-and-16 at the Arizona 26, Mahomes ran to Nagy to make a finer point he wanted Nagy to convey to reserve quarterback Bailey Zappe.
But with Reid being “the GOAT” of play-calling, as Mahomes called him, he wanted it known he wasn’t telling anyone what to do.
“I wasn’t suggesting play calls. I was more giving tips that he could kind of relay to the quarterbacks,” Mahomes said. “Just in certain situations. Just guys being in new situations in games like that.”
When I asked him why it was important to stay so immersed in the game, he said, “You know me. I love it. I love the game. So I’ll always be locked in in there.”
Like so many brilliant aspects of Mahomes, maybe it’s easy to take such an attitude for granted.
But how many other superstars do you see managing to always be among their teammates even when they stand taller than about anyone in their game?
And exerting their infectious will and influence from the sidelines of an essentially meaningless game.
Imagine the impact that has on the culture.
“You look at these veteran guys, with Pat leading the charge on that,” said Reid, noting that Kelce and Chris Jones were doing the same. “They like watching these young guys play, and they’re cheering for them. At the same time, they’re trying to teach them, too. They’re hard on them when they goof up.
“Which I’m OK with. Peer pressure is good pressure.”
All the more so from a peer without peer who puts more pressure on himself every year.
“No bad days,” as he put it the other day, perhaps taking a term favored by former teammate Justin Watson.
And working to dominate every rep … even when he’s on the sideline.