Hoops off the table for Chiefs’ Mahomes

GM fears injury to franchise QB

From wire dispatches

You might have seen a snippet of video on the internet recently of Patrick Mahomes’ skills on the basketball court. You probably won’t be seeing any more. Like many Chiefs fans, general manager Brett Veach saw the viral video of Mahomes’ pickup basketball moves and was concerned.

The fear of an injury to the NFL’s most valuable player led Veach to place a call to Mahomes’ agent, Leigh Steinberg.

“As soon as I saw it, it probably took me about 2 seconds to call his agent and tell him that was a big no-no,” Veach told Soren Petro of WHB (810 AM) Thursday.

“The Kingdom can rest assure that we have that under control: No more basketball for Pat.”

Mahomes’ contract does not explicitly prohibit him from playing basketball.

Mahomes is competitive in all he does, Veach said, so that makes it hard for Mahomes to kick back and just shoot hoops.

“He doesn’t have that filter in his mind to kind of just have fun, and not take everything so competitively,” Veach said.

That’s why the Chiefs hope Mahomes’ basketball days are over.

“We were able to nip that in the bud and we feel good with the plan of no basketball with Pat moving forward,” Veach said.

Jets

Adam Gase’s coaching staff in New York has youth, experience and plenty of personalities.

The team announced that Gase filled out his staff by hiring Jim Bob Cooter as running backs coach, Shawn Jefferson as assistant head coachoffense and Frank Bush as assistant head coachdefense/inside linebackers.

Gase also reunited two of the central figures from the New Orleans Saints’ “Bountygate” scandal in 2012, adding Joe Vitt as a senior defensive assistant to work under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

Cooter spent the past five seasons with Detroit, including the previous four as offensive coordinator. He previously worked with Indianapolis (2009-11), Kansas City (2012) and Denver (2013), where he also worked with Gase.

Jefferson, who had 470 catches in a 13-year playing career, was Gase’s wide receivers coach in Miami the past three years.

Bush was Miami’s assistant head coach/linebackers coach the past two seasons.

Of the Jets’ 19 on-field coaches, 10 are 40 or younger — including the 40-year-old Gase.

Cardinals

Arizona signed outside linebacker Brooks Reed to a one-year contract.

Reed, who grew up in Tucson and played at the University of Arizona, has played in eight NFL seasons, four with the Houston Texans and the past four with the Atlanta Falcons. Reed, 31, has played in 120 NFL games, 86 as a starter. He appeared in 60 games, 34 as a starter, at defensive end with the Falcons. He is projected to move to outside linebacker in Arizona’s 3-4 defense.