During a recent appearance on ‘The Schrager Hour,’ ESPN analyst Peter Schrager and former Kansas City Chiefs front-office executive Mike Borgonzi discussed how general manager Brett Veach was focused on Patrick Mahomes months before the 2017 NFL Draft.

“He (Brett Veach) started to see this quarterback, like, wow, look at this throw, look at this throw. know, Veach is always always big with the videos and stuff on his phone.” Borgonzi said, “So he starts filming it, starts shooting it over to Andy, and Andy’s probably like, dude, it’s May right now, slow down. But he was relentless with it.”

Veach stumbled upon Mahomes’ highlight tape while scouting a defensive prospect, and the enlightening footage propelled a relentless internal strategy to persuade head coach Andy Reid of the potential in drafting a quarterback.

“We pretty much knew, I think, during the fall that we were going with the pick. The night of the draft was just, we’re all in pins and needles just trying to get up there,” said Borgonzi, “Then we finally found a trade partner with Buffalo at 10. I think we may, because there was some rumors that we were trying to trade up and I think we might’ve leaked out that we were trading up for a linebacker that night.”

Borgonzi recently joined the Tennessee Titans as their new general manager before the start of the 2025 season. He had held various roles with the Chiefs from 2009, eventually becoming the team’s assistant general manager in 2021.

This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Ex-Chiefs Exec reveals misdirection tactic to draft Patrick Mahomes