NFL

The Chiefs shut down Patrick Mahomes’ pickup basketball habit

Kansas City's GM worried about injury to his star QB after a viral video.

Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes' athleticism knows no limits, it appears. Peter Aiken/Getty Images

By Jon Couture

2 minutes to read

The Chiefs are apparently willing to sign Patrick Mahomes to an NFL record $200 million contract a year from now. Little surprise they’re a bit paranoid about him staying healthy for the long term.

Video of the newly crowned MVP playing pickup basketball went viral on Tuesday, his athleticism showing as well there as it did getting Kansas City to the AFC Championship this year.

Enjoyable as it was to watch, the Chiefs weren’t exactly giddy about it.

“As soon as I saw it, it probably took me about two seconds to call his agent and tell him that was a big no-no,” GM Brett Veach relayed on Kansas City’s WHB 810-AM radio on Thursday. “He doesn’t have that filter in his mind to kind of just have fun, and not take everything so competitively. … We were able to nip that in the bud and we feel good with the plan.”

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While Mahomes’ contract has no outside activity restriction, a point NFLPA exec Richard Sherman stressed on Twitter, Veach told reporters later Thursday that the conversation was a lighthearted one and that Mahomes understood the team’s concern.

“You’re breaking a lot of ankles out there,” Veach said he told Mahomes. “Just make sure you’re not breaking your own.”

It’s not as though there isn’t history here. The winter after becoming a cuss word in Red Sox Nation, Aaron Boone blew out his knee playing pickup basketball. The Yankees appreciated his honesty, especially since basketball was prohibited in his contract, but released him anyway. (Needing a third baseman that year, they traded for one: Alex Rodriguez.) Zack Greinke fractured a rib playing pickup basketball in 2011 and missed the first month of the season.

Locally, it’s hard also not to think of Robert Edwards, though the circumstances were very different. The Patriots running back made the Pro Bowl in his 1998 rookie season, but injured his knee so severely in a beach football game held as part of the festivities, he nearly needed his leg amputated. He never played another down for New England, though he resurfaced with Miami in 2002 and played parts of four seasons in the Canadian Football League.

As for Mahomes, he’s keeping himself busy, rolling out a personal logo and merchandise to capitalize on his monster season.