Could Patrick Mahomes behind-the-back pass be unveiled this season?

July 02, 2024

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — For years, such a moment has been discussed by the superstar quarterback, his always-growing number of fans and even those within the Kansas City Chiefs’ organization, whether in the locker room, coaches’ offices or personnel meetings.

Well, midway through the Chiefs’ non-padded practice Saturday, finally, it happened: Patrick Mahomes, the most talented passer in the NFL, threw and completed a behind-the-back pass with 21 other players on the field — a first in front of fans during training camp since Mahomes became the franchise’s quarterback in 2017.

When practice ended, several members of the Chiefs’ video production department moved as fast as they could to get back to Blum Union, its headquarters on the campus of Missouri Western State. The buzz in the room, of course, was to look at Mahomes’ highlight — again and again and again — and share it on the team’s social media accounts.

“He’s just kidding… unless?” the Chiefs wrote on their Twitter account, which was accompanied with a flushed face emoji.

An hour later, Mahomes quoted the Chiefs’ tweet with his response: the eyes emoji.

He’s just kidding… unless? 😳@PatrickMahomes pic.twitter.com/qu5UoMs4JA

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) August 5, 2023

Mahomes, the league’s reigning MVP and Super Bowl LVII MVP, gave the Detroit Lions — Kansas City’s opening-night opponent on Sept. 7 — and the rest of the Chiefs’ opponents another aspect of his rare skills to consider when game planning against him. Mahomes, as he often does, showcased his behind-the-back wizardry while looking ahead downfield, giving the repetition a bit of his usual no-look sauce, too.

Rookie tackle Wanya Morris was shocked when he learned, following Saturday’s on-field work, that Mahomes created such a highlight.

“He’s definitely a magician,” Morris said. “That’s insane. As an offensive lineman, you’re not looking at the ball. We have to assume and know where the ball is at all times without seeing it. To go back and watch him do that, it’s breathtaking. For it to be so accurate behind the back, that’s insane. Let’s be real: Nobody can do that.”

In the team period, Mahomes executed a play-action fake with running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to set up a screen pass for receiver Skyy Moore. Even more impressive, Mahomes’ behind-the-back pass was precise. The ball was easy for Moore to catch with plenty of room in space on the perimeter of the field to gain 10 yards before a defender would be close enough to attempt to tackle him.

“I didn’t see it (live), but it doesn’t surprise me,” safety Justin Reid said, smiling. “He slips in new stuff all the time. I saw him, in pregame warmups, trying to throw an across-the-body, left-handed throw. He keeps it fun and tries new things.”

Mahomes first started experimenting with a behind-the-back pass during the 2018 season, when he attempted such a feat in practices, ones that were closed to fans and during team periods that were not observed by reporters.

“He completed the (first such) pass,” Greg Lewis, the former receivers coach, told The Athletic before Super Bowl LIV. “I was like, ‘Don’t do that, dude.’ He’s done it more than once, but the first time that he did it was like, ‘What?!’ He’s done it to (superstar tight end Travis) Kelce, I think he did one to (receiver) Sammy (Watkins), and he might’ve thrown one to one of the running backs. It was pretty sweet.

“People can’t throw it overhand forward and complete it, and you’re over here just doing behind-the-back passes. I had never seen that. I’m pretty sure he can do it in a game, too, if we OK’d it.”

In August 2019, in the middle of the Chiefs’ camp, Mahomes explained what the circumstances would have to be for him to get clearance for such a pass in a game.

“We would have to be winning by a lot and it would have to be late in the game,” Mahomes said then, laughing. “I’m probably going to try to not do that one.”

But Mahomes has completed plenty of wild, creative and abnormal passes in games to thwart opposing defenders.

Mahomes magic! 🪄

📺: #KCvsDEN on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/TzmdzbFm9o pic.twitter.com/AVyeGJYeHV

— NFL (@NFL) December 11, 2022

Here’s a quick summary of Mahomes’ most brilliant, unorthodox highlights: The on-the-run, left-handed pass to superstar receiver Tyreek Hill in the Chiefs’ comeback win over the Denver Broncos, the no-look pass to receiver Demarcus Robinson in the Chiefs’ comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens, the plethora of underhanded touchdown passes — that made it look like he was bowling — to fullback Anthony Sherman (in a win over the Ravens), Kelce (in a win over the New York Jets) and Edwards-Helaire (in a win over the Arizona Cardinals) and the no-look, improvisational shovel pass to running back Jerick McKinnon that led to a 56-yard touchdown in another win over the Broncos.

“I was like, ‘What the heck?!’” right guard Trey Smith said in early December after the game. “A lot of (quarterbacks) would throw it out (of bounds) for a dead play. He throws it and we get a touchdown. It was ridiculous, the way he threw it. I was just like, ‘No way.’ I just remember running down the field shaking my head. It’s just classic Pat, man.”

Plus, don’t forget the one time, in 2020, when Mahomes, in a comeback win over the Carolina Panthers, motioned to the right before running to the left and catching the snap from center Austin Reiter on what appeared to be a rollout to the left of the formation. Mahomes ended the play by spinning back to the right and throwing a side-arm pass that resulted in a 1-yard touchdown reception for Robinson, who caught the ball in the back of the end zone.

And also, you have to remember that one of Mahomes’ greatest passes was an incompletion.

No quit in these Chiefs. @PatrickMahomes

📺: #SBLV on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/HJtQf5igun pic.twitter.com/5rhsJjG76E

— NFL (@NFL) February 8, 2021

In Super Bowl LV, Mahomes escaped pressure from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by sprinting to his right before throwing the ball while most of his body was parallel to the ground. And yet, Mahomes still had enough power to get the ball 30-plus yards downfield, with incredible accuracy, to running back Darrel Williams, who couldn’t track the ball well enough that it bounced off the front of his helmet.

More than ever before in his career, Mahomes appears to be trending toward changing his mind about executing his behind-the-back pass in a game, which, for him, could symbolize the next innovative moment for the sport’s most important position.

After one practice last week, Mahomes wowed fans with his trick, another example that he finds joy in trying something that can be considered crazy, in doing something that has never been done. While standing at the 20-yard line, from the right hash, Mahomes, while in full pads, launched his behind-the-back pass, the ball traveling more than 30 yards in the air before landing just beyond the corner of the end zone.

Mahomes working on the behind the back pass pic.twitter.com/NCxdE2XKzE

— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) July 28, 2023

Mahomes knows the procedure to get approval from coach Andy Reid.

First, he must prove to Reid, on the whiteboard, that such a play he has concocted, featuring a behind-the-back pass, is structurally sound within the Chiefs’ passing concepts and protection scheme. The next step usually is Mahomes, Kelce and other skill position players showing Reid, during a special teams period in practice, revised versions of the play. Then, many of the defensive players have to serve as props and landmarks to help the offense predict the potential success of the trickery, often during Friday practices and walkthroughs. The first victory is when Reid includes the play — which has a nickname that is coined, either by the players or coaches — in the offense’s 200-plus plays for that week’s game plan.

Then would come the surprising moment, when Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy tell Mahomes, through the speakers in his helmet, that the Chiefs are in the ideal situation — most times in the red zone or on a pivotal fourth down — to show their opponent their planned misdirection and subterfuge.

The last time such occurred was in January, when the Chiefs unveiled “Arctic Circle” against the Raiders in their regular-season finale, a play that started with Mahomes and his teammates linking their arms together and shuffling their feet toward the right, transforming their huddle into a counter-clockwise carousel, resembling school children dancing in a circle while singing “Ring Around the Rosie” on the playground at recess.

After sprinting from the huddle to an unusual formation, featuring Mahomes, Kelce, McKinnon and receiver Kadarius Toney all in the backfield, McKinnon, a college quarterback at Georgia Southern who ran a triple-option offense, received the snap in the pistol and went through a run-pass option action with Toney. McKinnon then pitched the ball back to Mahomes, who threw a pass across the field — from the numbers on the perimeter of the right side of the field to the numbers on the left — to Toney. The play ended with Toney traversing 9 yards into the end zone, but the score was nullified by a holding penalty from star center Creed Humphrey.

“The only thing is it has to work,” Mahomes said after the game. “Whenever we run it, it has to work.”

Coming out of a spinning huddle, the Chiefs aligned in a wildcat formation, setting up a screen pass to Kadarius Toney with a blocking advantage.

Toney found the end zone on the play, however, the TD was called back due to a holding call.#KCvsLV | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/YmfAndpPZ6

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 7, 2023

If Reid authorizes Mahomes to unleash his behind-the-back pass, Mahomes understands that much of the responsibility for the play’s success will be on his unusually-flexible, double-jointed right arm and hand.

After Saturday’s practice, just one major question remains: Will Mahomes attempt his bold magic trick against the Lions — or later in the upcoming season? Only he, and perhaps Reid, know. But Mahomes has given football fans another reason to watch the Chiefs.

Special teams update

Next weekend, the Chiefs will have their preseason opener, a road game Aug. 13 against the New Orleans Saints. Dave Toub, the Chiefs’ special teams guru, has already identified which player he is most interested in observing in the game: rookie undrafted running back Deneric Prince, who will be the first kickoff returner, a job that could help earn him a spot on the team’s initial 53-man roster.

“I want to see him with guys coming down the field and how it’s set up with his blocks and if he’ll hit (the running lane) strong,” Toub said of Prince. “Everything that I’m seeing in practice, I think I’m going to see in the game. But you’ve still got to see it.”

Toub acknowledged that the Chiefs, at least through the preseason, will not fair catch any kickoffs. In May, NFL owners voted to pass the proposal where the ball will be put in play at the receiving team’s 25-yard line if there is a fair catch on a free kick (kickoff or safety kick) behind the receiving team’s 25-yard line.

“We want to find out what we have,” Toub said of Prince and other possible kickoff returners, such as receiver Richie James and undrafted rookie receiver Nikko Remigio. “On kickoff, we’re going to kick it off to (the opposing team) so we can evaluate our kickoff (coverage) team.”

Other notable players that Toub mentioned were rookie cornerback Nic Jones, rookie safety Chamarri Conner and undrafted rookie cornerback Ekow Boye-Doe.

“He’s coming on, especially recently,” Toub said of Boye-Doe. “The thing about him is he’s not a real big guy, so you wonder how he’s going to hold up. We’ve got him at gunner. He’s going to have to use his speed to be able to get out on guys and run. He’s got the top-end speed. The big question is: Is he going to play bigger than he actually is? He’s about 177 pounds (and listed at 6-feet tall).”

“We’ve had guys that have been that small that came on and become good players for us. It’s not impossible.”

Toub also shared that the expected starting gunners in the regular season are receiver Justin Watson and cornerback Joshua Williams.

Injury update

Defensive ends Charles Omenihu (strained calf) and Mike Danna (strained left calf), cornerbacks L’Jarius Sneed (sore knee), tight end Jody Fortson (right shoulder) and Toney (rehabbing from surgery to repair meniscus and cartilage in his knee) didn’t participate Saturday.

(Photo of Patrick Mahomes: Jason Hanna / Getty Images)

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