Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes? KU football’s QBs are well aware of exploits

Busy quarterbacking the Kansas Jayhawks during the late summer, fall and winter, Jalon Daniels has been able to make it to just one Kansas City Chiefs game in his first three years at KU.

It was a good one, a memorable one.

“I have seen the Chiefs in person. I actually went to the Chiefs-Bengals game where they ended up advancing in the playoffs,” Daniels, KU’s 6-foot, 215-pound junior quarterback said at Wednesday’s KU football Media Day. The event featuring the Lawndale, California native Daniels and teammates and coaches was held in the Jayhawks’ indoor practice facility to the west of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Daniels was referring, of course, to the Chiefs’ 23-20 victory over Cincinnati in the AFC title game on Jan. 29 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

That was the NFL playoff game in which superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, despite playing on a badly sprained right ankle, directed the Chiefs into field-goal position on a late drive. Placekicker Harrison Butker nailed a 45-yard kick with three seconds left, sending the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, where they won the second title of the Mahomes era.

Daniels, who Tuesday was named one of 33 quarterbacks on the preseason watch list for the Manning Award (given to the country’s top college QB), saw Mahomes throw for 326 yards and two TDs that cold January day.

He was pleased to view the 27-year-old five-time Pro Bowler in person after studying him on film many times before.

“There are a lot of things he does as a quarterback that are unnatural at that position,” Daniels said. “I mean he makes a lot of plays that you’ve never seen before. When I’m breaking down his film, it makes me want to be able to see if I can do a lot of the things he does. Hopefully I’m able to add some of those things to my repertoire and use it one day in a game.”

Daniels has marveled at how the right-handed Mahomes is able to flip a pass with his non-dominant left hand.

“I’m going to save that one to Patrick Mahomes,” Daniels said with a smile. “I don’t know if I’m going to hit that left-handed one.”

Daniels, who threw for 2,014 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushed for 425 net yards and seven more TDs last season, said he’d love to visit with Mahomes in person some day after learning so much from watching the seven-year NFL veteran on tape.

“I mean he’s been through this already,” Daniels said. “Being able to ask certain questions about situations you know you are going to go through will allow you to be able to have a step forward. When situations come then you’ll know what to do.”

The other two KU quarterbacks who attended KU Football Media Day — senior Jason Bean and freshman Cole Ballard — said they, too, have studied Mahomes on film.

“I think he’s obviously exceptional at the position. I’ve watched plenty of games of him,” said Bean, a 6-3 senior from Mansfield, Texas who said he has yet to watch Mahomes play in person.

“I just try to implement some things he does and try to put it in my game,” added Bean, who threw for 1,280 yards and 14 TDs last season and rushed for 222 yards and four scores.

The one thing that stands out in film study of Mahomes, Bean said, “is his leadership. It’s what makes him such a great player. His confidence and command of the huddle, command of the team is one thing I try to model after him.”

Bean said in what he’s seen from NFL QBs, “I feel Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) has a chance (to pass Mahomes as top QB in NFL). I think he’s really, really, really, really, really good. I think Josh Allen (Buffalo) is pretty good, too. I feel those three are at the top right now. I feel they’ll be at the top for a while.”

Ballard, a 6-2, 210-pound true freshman from Westfield, Indiana, has an NFL background.

His father, Chris, is the general manager for the Indianapolis Colts and a former Chiefs executive. Chris Ballard was the Chiefs’ director of player personnel for two seasons (2013, 14), then was promoted to director of football operations for two seasons before heading to Indy as GM in 2017.

“It’s so hard to emulate what he does because not a lot of people have that kind of arm and that kind of capability,” Cole Ballard said Wednesday. “I definitely watch him (Mahomes) and how he plays because it’s something you want to try and achieve but not a lot of people are able to do it.

“I’m excited to go to a game and watch Mahomes and how he handles himself on the field,” added Ballard, who said he also watches tape of Burrow and Allen.

“Joe Burrow is so good with his feet and what he does mechanically there aren’t a lot of guys like him,” Ballard noted.

And then there’s Mahomes.

“His leadership … you hear things coming out of Chiefs camp that he’s running his own meetings. He gets the guys out there. That’s something not a lot of quarterbacks, especially young quarterbacks can do,” Ballard said. “That’s something I definitely will watch and would like to learn from.”

Ballard, completed 133 of 210 passes for 1,654 yards and 11 TDs while rushing for 655 yards and 13 TDs during his senior season at Westfield (Ind.) High, said, “I hope I get to meet him at some point. He seems like a great guy.”