By Jayson Jenks, Dan Pompei, Mike Sando and Nate Taylor
Six weeks before the 2017 NFL Draft, in the middle of another winter in Kansas City, members of the Chiefs’ brain group ranking held a conference call. Clark Hunt, the team’s owner, was on the phone. As well as the three most influential front-office voices in the franchise: head coach Andy Reid, general manager John Dorsey and co-chief of staff to players Brett Veach.
What they discussed that day was so dramatic in its potential to raise or sink the franchise that some in the organization, once they heard of the plan, responded to the idea with just two words: “Holy shit”. The Chiefs, everyone in the call understood, would try to negotiate in the first round to get Patrick Mahomes, a Texas Tech defender.
Mahomes first appeared on the Chiefs’ radar in 2014, when Veach told Reid that Mahomes was the best player he had ever seen – until …