Patrick Mahomes will leave Dez Bryant decision to Brett Veach

Patrick Mahomes told Yahoo! Sports that he leaves roster decisions to Brett Veach despite his connection to Dez Bryant.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has selected an interesting workout partner this offseason: former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant.

Mahomes has made no secret of the fact that he watched Bryant play football as a kid, and one of the perks of being a professional athlete—especially one on the level of Mahomes—is that you get to likely spend time with almost anyone you want. Mahomes hanging with Bryant is a cool story of young phenom hanging with his hero.

But there’s also an angle to this for Bryant, one that places the Chiefs organization in the spotlight. Bryant has made it clear he wants to play professional football again, despite not having played a single snap in the NFL for the last 27 months. Will he get such a chance with the Chiefs? Is working out with Mahomes a portal back into the pros?

It all started back in February when Mahomes was throwing footballs to Bryant in a workout.

From there, the workouts have continued as Mahomes told Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo! Sports that he’d “likely throw” with Bryant again later this offseason. Mahomes was then asked about whether he’d like Bryant as a teammate, and Mahomes played his cards perfectly.

"“He’s obviously a very talented player, someone I watched as a little kid growing up,” Mahomes said. “But I leave stuff like that to [general manager Brett] Veach and let him make the decisions … I mean, they brought in the Honey Badger and Frank Clark last year, and you saw how much that helped out. So, I know they’ll make the right decisions that will put us in the best situation to win.”"

It’s good that Mahomes stays in his lane on this one. Bryant did earn a contract from the New Orleans Saints in November, 2018 but then almost instantly tore his Achilles and was forced to sit ever since. How much is there left in the tank? Why aren’t other teams going after him? There’s a lot of homework here for a team like the Chiefs to do.

In a recent interview, Bryant did say he’s eager to come back and that he “missed the game.” It would make sense for the Chiefs to at least check in on him to see what he might bring to the table at this stage in his career. Bryant was a high-volume target for Dallas for years, and the Chiefs might have a need at the position for someone to take over for Sammy Watkins if they’re unable to bring him back.

Bryant had 69 receptions for 838 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns in 2017 and made all 16 starts that season for Dallas.