Patrick Mahomes 'Definitely' Thought Jets Had Interest in Him Before 2017 Draft

Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes admitted Wednesday he believed the New York Jets were eyeing him before taking safety Jamal Adams with the No. 6 overall pick in 2017.

"I definitely thought there was interest there," Mahomes said ahead of his Week 8 matchup against the 0-7 Jets.

With many in New York already daydreaming about landing Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence in the 2021 NFL draft, the admission by Mahomes gives the fans another reason to groan over the direction of the franchise.

Sunday will mark the first time Mahomes faces the Jets, though he did visit the club ahead of the draft in 2017.

Now an MVP, Super Bowl champion and two-time Pro Bowler, Mahomes has remade Kansas City into the league's model of success while the Jets are searching for their first winning season since 2015. New York can take some solace in knowing the general manager who passed on Mahomes in favor of Adams, Mike Maccagnan, is no longer with the team and many of his decisions are being revisited on the fly.

Perhaps none is more relevant here than the career of Adams. A first-team All-Pro in 2019, Adams was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in July after contract-extension talks broke down.

At the time of the 2017 draft, the Jets had Josh McCown, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg on their quarterback depth chart. The Jets opted not to take a quarterback from that stacked draft class. One year later, however, New York selected Sam Darnold No. 3 overall in 2018—passing on the likes of Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.

New York will get another shot at rectifying the decision to pass on Mahomes in the coming years, however. The team acquired Seattle's first- and third-round picks in the 2021 draft and a first-round pick in 2022. Those types of selections could change the franchise for the foreseeable future. It's just a matter of whether that's for better or worse.