Chiefs set to face QB they didn’t draft

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs knew they were in the market for a quarterback a couple years ago and, with several first-round talents available, they invited Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes for visits.

Both were put through their paces.

They scribbled plays on white boards to test their recall and dissected game film to test their mental aptitude and situational awareness. They went onto the practice field and ran a series of drills to test their athleticism, then were asked to throw every pass in the book, from deft screen passes to intricate timing routes to deep, downfield heaves.

The Chiefs liked everything Watson did over those couple of days.

They loved what Mahomes did.

So the Chiefs traded up to select Mahomes with the 10th overall pick. The Houston Texans jumped on Watson two picks later. And the start of their professional careers have continued to run side by side, with Mahomes leading the Chiefs to back-to-back AFC West titles and the brink of a Super Bowl appearance last season, and Watson guiding the Texans to consecutive playoff appearances for the third time in franchise history.

Now, their parallel paths will intersect when the Texans visit the Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs on Sunday.

“How great is that for the National Football League, first of all, these good young quarterbacks?” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “We actually brought Deshaun up here, too, before the draft and had a nice visit with him. We have a ton of respect for him. He’s a great player, he was great in college, he is great now. He’s going to do nothing but get better as time goes on.”

Watson was especially impressive last week, leading the Texans back from a 16-0 second-half deficit to beat the Bills 22-19 in overtime.