Chiefs rumors: Patrick Mahomes might wait “more than a year” to start for K.C.

Patrick Mahomes might not start for “more than a year” per an anonymous Chiefs staffer, who talked to MMQB’s Albert Breer.

Albert Breer’s most recent column over at Monday Morning Quarterback took a look at several quarterbacks in the first round and their scenarios. When it came to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, Breer got word from an unnamed “Chiefs staffer” who said it could be quite some time, more than you might expect, before Mahomes is under center on a regular basis for the Chiefs.

That the Chiefs are going to give Mahomes time to learn the playbook is no secret to fans, and even the most ardent of Mahomes’ fans would likely be fine with at least spending the bulk of the year learning from Alex Smith. The NFL provides a learning curve for anyone and the Chiefs have showed no issues getting to the playoffs with Alex Smith in place. Still the assumption for most is that Smith gets expensive in 2018 and as the Chiefs continue to bump up against the cap, having to cut guys like Jaye Howard, it makes sense to say “no” to a $20 million cap hit. However it might not be that simple, per Breer:

"How long will it be before Mahomes sees the field in Kansas City? Here’s how one Chiefs staffer explained it to me—they won’t think about it until he’s going to the line of scrimmage looking at what the defense is doing rather than thinking about what the offense is doing. In other words, he has to understand the playbook well enough to not just know but understand the ins and outs of all the plays, to point where he gets how to attack whatever defense is being thrown at him. And based on Mahomes’ background, it’ll probably be more than a year before he gets there."

Mahomes has already said he’s got a lot to learn, but that he’s anxious to do so. The Chiefs will know how much to give him as he goes along, so there’s no need to overload him at first as well, a la what the Cowboys did with Dak Prescott. If Mahomes goes in at some point, the Chiefs will give him exactly what he can handle, but it sounds like they want to hold him back until he’s fully ready to go. But if that means straining themselves financially for another year, the Chiefs might want to forgot a complete learning curve for the sake of letting him learn at least a bit as he goes.