The Kansas City Chiefs have brought back a familiar face to the coaching staff and that news should excite the team’s star quarterback.
The Chiefs announced on Friday that they’d hired former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy as quarterbacks coach and a senior offensive assistant. Nagy previously spent five seasons with the Chiefs, serving as QBs coach for three seasons (2013-2015) and offensive coordinator for two (2016-2017). Notably, Nagy served as offensive coordinator when Patrick Mahomes was a rookie — even calling the plays during his first NFL game in Week 17 against the Denver Broncos.
Nagy helped lay the foundation for Mahomes, who would go on to have a record-setting 2018 campaign where he won the league’s MVP award. But what does Mahomes actually think about Nagy when it comes to coaching quarterbacks?
“I think he relates to quarterbacks so well,” Mahomes told reporters ahead of a preseason game with the Bears in 2018. “Especially the young guys. He’s been through the process. He’s tried to make a career of his own as a quarterback then moved over to coaching. Just having someone that has been through that process and knows how to relate to the young guys and especially the quarterback position will help you really understand the offense and really understand what the defenses are trying to get.”
Nagy’s experience as a quarterback in the NFL himself informed his ability to simplify things for Mahomes as a young player. Mahomes also felt that Nagy’s strategy as an offensive coordinator really helped set him up for the success he had behind closed doors and in his first start as a rookie.
“Obviously he was an awesome, awesome coach and he helped me out a ton, helping explain things to me as I was coming from a totally different offense to this one,” Mahomes said of Nagy ahead of the Week 16 game against the Bears in 2019. “He really helped me with just presenting it in different ways that I understood and was able to pick up so I could have success whenever I was in practice or in preseason games or the last game of the regular season. I mean he’s a great human being and a great coach and he really understands how to get the best out of his quarterback.”
This last bit — said by Mahomes during the week leading up to Super Bowl LIV — should excite Chiefs fans the most about Nagy’s return.
‘‘Nagy was amazing with me and my transition into the NFL,” Mahomes said ahead of Super Bowl LIV, via the Chicago Sun-Times, “Being able to relate to me, being able to go out there and let me play fast and be who I am.”
2021 was the most inconsistent season of Patrick Mahomes’ career to this point. Look no further than the first and second half of the AFC title game against the Cincinnati Bengals for evidence of that. Based on Mahomes’ comments alone, it feels like Nagy is perhaps the right man for the job to help the star quarterback return to form in 2022.
