Peter King has spent 40 years around the NFL, and when he says he’s never seen anything quite like the Chiefs’ coach-quarterback connection, that carries some weight.
At the Kansas City Chiefs’ annual kickoff luncheon, where King was honored with the Lamar Hunt Award for Professional Football, the longtime reporter pointed straight to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes as the standard. King said the relationship that has defined the Chiefs since Mahomes became the starting quarterback in 2018 stands alone in his experience.
“I've got a book coming out in a month. It's called The Game, and it's about my 40 years covering the NFL, 1984 to 2023,” said King.
“I have a chapter in there about why the relationship between the coach and the quarterback is far and away the most important relationship in football, and I use Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes as the model. It's the best coach-quarterback relationship I've seen in my 40 years covering the NFL, and the reason is that they have this implicit trust for each other.
They can complete each other's sentences.”
That bond, King said, may also help explain why Reid keeps going. The Chiefs head coach has been in the game for 44 years, and King thinks Mahomes could be a major reason he doesn’t walk away anytime soon.
“I thought there would be a time two or three or four years ago that it might be over for Andy and he might sail off into the sunset and do TV or whatever, but I now think that what has to be going through his mind, 'Are you kidding me? I'm not leaving this guy.'
So I don't have any idea. I mean, I remember the last year I worked in the '23 season, I asked him in the playoffs right at the end, 'So is this it for you?'
And he said, 'Is this it for you?'”
King added that Reid still looks every bit like a coach who loves the work.
“I think he still really, really loves it, and from what I heard, they had a very hard training camp this year. I think Andy wanted to say to his team, 'Six and 11, we're never going to do that again, ever. Ever.'”
For Chiefs fans, the takeaway is simple: the Reid-Mahomes partnership remains the engine, Reid may not be done yet, and the team is trying to move past the wreckage of the 2025 season.
In Other News...
Chiefs Quietly Closed The Door On A Familiar Quarterback Option
The Chiefs have moved on from a familiar face in the quarterback room, waiving Chris Oladokun with an injury designation as the roster churn continued this week. If he goes unclaimed, he will land on injured reserve, ending a stint that once seemed to give him a foothold in Kansas City after he started the teams final two games last season when injuries thinned the depth chart.
This year told a different story. Kansas City reshaped the quarterback room by bringing in Justin Fields and drafting Garrett Nussmeier, and Oladokun never fully reestablished himself amid a preseason that did not help his case and a concussion protocol issue that factored into the decision. Nussmeier has already taken over Oladokuns jersey number, a small but telling sign that the Chiefs had quietly closed the door on a once-familiar option. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Undrafted Rookie Forced His Way Into A Real Roster Battle
Xavier Nwankpa arrived in Kansas City as an undrafted rookie facing the usual uphill climb, but the safety turned the summer into a real conversation. After offseason evaluations and a strong preseason, he carved out a place on the Chiefs 53-man roster as the fourth safety, the kind of spot that usually goes to a player who proves he can handle more than just a camp body role.
Nwankpas biggest opening came when he was unexpectedly asked to start in the second preseason game after an injury to Alohi Gilman, and he handled the moment well enough to keep building momentum. For a player in his position, special teams often end up being the deciding factor, and Nwankpa made clear that understanding was part of how he stayed in the mix as Kansas City sorted out the back end of its defense. [Read more 🡒]
Patrick Mahomes Family Video Arrived As One Chiefs Question Lingers
Patrick Mahomes and his family were back in the public eye this week as behind-the-scenes footage from a commercial shoot with CommunityAmerica Credit Union made the rounds. The clip offered a lighter look at the Chiefs star away from the field, where his name has remained central to just about every conversation surrounding Kansas City heading into the new season.
Travis Kelce added another layer to that discussion on the New Heights podcast, saying Mahomes determination to return from injury helped shape his own decision to keep playing. Even with that kind of confidence around the locker room, one obvious question still hangs over the Chiefs as they approach the opener against the Denver Broncos: Mahomes is expected to suit up, but nothing has been confirmed yet. [Read more 🡒]