The Chiefs feared the Chargers had the same plan of drafting Mahomes and stashing him behind a veteran quarterback. Even scarier to Chiefs leaders, the price to the Bolts would pale in comparison; while the Chiefs had decided to deal three premium picks to climb 17 spots and draft Mahomes at No. 10, a 5-11 season had given the Chargers the No. 7 pick overall. They could just grab him.
For several weeks, the prospect of this thunder bolt of lightning kept Chiefs bosses on edge.
“At the end of the day the only one I was scared of was San Diego,” John Dorsey, the Chiefs’ general manager then, told The Athletic’s Bob McGinn before the Super Bowl.