Patrick Mahomes Cheated His Way to $16.4 Million Rookie Deal? Crazy Fan Theory About Chiefs Testing the QB With a Cheat Sheet Resurfaces

Patrick Mahomes always wanted to be a Chief, and to fructify his long-time dream, the quarterback almost recruited himself during the 2017 NFL draft. In this process, the then offensive coordinator, Matt Nagy, helped him ace the pre-draft visits at the Chiefs facility. This story has gained widespread recognition in the football fraternity, with Mahomes, who eventually ended up securing a $16.4 Million rookie deal for himself, clarifying the overall situation.

Every year, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes, and teams often test potential candidates ahead of the draft ceremony. Not to mention, Mahomes was among the favorites to find a landing spot in the first round. Several QB-hungry teams were in contention, including the New York Saints, Buffalo Bills, and Kansas City Chiefs. The gunslinger, who always had an eye above KC got inside help from Nagy, paving his way into the locker room.

Did Patrick Mahomes cheat to get into the NFL?

Pre-draft visits are a long-time tradition followed by athletes to understand the overall environment in this grand league of football. This helps the coaching staff to assess players on various parameters, like their psychological and analytical abilities. Some teams roll out grueling test series while quarterbacks visit their facility for the first time.

The Texas Tech product underwent a similar test during his first meeting with head coach Andy Reid. It was a five-hour long assessment, and Mahomes aced the interview with flying colors, something that most rookies find difficult to do.

It turns out the gunslinger knew the answers to every question beforehand. He studied the entire questionnaire and found answers, with the utmost precision. While speaking to his best man Travis Kelce and his brother Jason in the New Heights podcast, Mahomes revealed that Nagy had passed him a set of questions, a night before. He studied them thoroughly and appeared for the test.

Even though it looks like he cheated, Nagy’s faith in his quarterback turned out to be the best investment. All those Super Bowl titles were the result of his choices. In fact, several fans claim that Reid knew about the ‘cheating fiasco’ the whole time. Many NFL enthusiasts have opined over the years that Andy deliberately plotted a masterplan where he asked Nagy to handover the cheat-sheet to Patrick, in order to check whether the young QB could stay up all night and study those gameplays inside-out. Anyway, it worked out in their favor.

The Chiefs improved their draft stock just for Mahomes

Kansas City was destined to make the 27th pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft, but they executed some trades with the Bills and improved to No. 10. One of the main intentions behind this move was to secure a spot ahead of the New Orleans Saints, who were in desperate need of acquiring a gunslinger. Fortunately, the Chiefs exercised their pick on Mahomes and kicked off a new era of football.

“I think it was very safe to say that there was a major consensus in our building of who we liked,” Nagy said in an interview, per ESPN. “You put the [Mahomes] tape on, you started watching, and you can’t put the clicker down, and you just watched more and more and more,” he added. It will be interesting to see whether he succeeds in sustaining this legacy for a couple more years.