Chiefs Offseason 2023: Patrick Mahomes helped 49ers’ quarterback Trey Lance make a ‘substantial jump’
In recent offseasons, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has hosted teammates during his workouts in Texas. Last season, these sessions were credited for building chemistry between the quarterback and his rebuilt receiving corps. In 2023, Mahomes and his Kansas City teammates were sometimes joined by draft prospects like Zay Flowers and the team’s eventual second-round pick Rashee Rice — along with the San Francisco 49ers’ third-year quarterback Trey Lance.
His private coach Jeff Christensen credits these sessions with giving Lance a head start on the coming season.
“I said, ‘Watch this. Watch what he does here,’” Christensen told The Athletic’s Matt Burrows. “It was something I was telling him to do that he wasn’t quite doing. And then he saw Patrick apply it perfectly. And I think that visual buy-in, that mental buy-in, helped him past that mental hump. “And to his credit, he just kept getting better. [Over] the last seven days, every day was a substantial jump.”
Christensen praised his young client, who has impressed the Kansas City quarterback with his work ethic.
“Pat really thinks the world of him,” he observed. “He’s just a really good person, conscientious. He wants to be great. And he’s one of the few kids whose actions match his words. He backs it up. He shows up every day and he wants to learn. And that’s why I teach him.”
But so far, the two of them have not socialized very much.
“I mean, Patrick’s got two babies now,” noted Christensen. “He’s changing diapers and burping babies and chasing dogs and hitting golf balls and trying to keep up with Travis Kelce. So he’s a little busy.”
Lance began the 2022 season as the 49ers’ starter but suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2. That gave the reins back to former starter Jimmy Garoppolo — who later gave way to rookie Brock Purdy after suffering a foot injury. Now that Garoppolo has moved on to the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency, Purdy enters 2023 as San Francisco’s apparent starter. If Lance can work his way back into the starting spot, his work with Mahomes will have been a factor in making that happen.
Source: Arrowhead Pride
