KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Justin Fields says he wanted to join the Kansas City Chiefs partly to learn from Patrick Mahomes, regardless that the star quarterback is rehabbing from a knee harm.
“I wanted to come here because of the [Chiefs’] culture, because of Pat and to learn from him and Coach [Andy] Reid,” Fields mentioned Tuesday. “Just the winning, to be honest.
“We after all knew of one another, however we actually did not talk earlier than coming right here. I’m excited to learn from [Mahomes]. I’m already form of choosing his mind a bit bit and simply observing how he goes about issues within the assembly rooms, subject and stuff like that. I’m excited, after all, to work with Coach Reid and [offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy] and all the blokes on offense.”
The Chiefs acquired Fields, a five-year veteran, in a commerce final month with the New York Jets. As part of the trade, the Jets are paying $7 million of Fields’ $10 million guaranteed salary for 2026 while Kansas City will pay the remaining $3 million.
Mahomes is recovering from the most significant injury in his nine-year career, as he had surgery in December to repair the torn ACL and LCL in his left knee. Even if Mahomes is the Chiefs’ starter in Week 1, Fields shared that he believes he’ll be able to gain plenty of knowledge from his new teammate in the quarterbacks room.
“I was excited for a brand new begin, the custom right here, the tradition right here,” Fields said. “Regardless of me beginning or being a backup, I’m going to assault [each day] the identical means. My purpose is to get higher, any means I can. My mindset does not change.”
During the Chiefs’ offseason program, which started Monday, Reid said that Fields will work to learn the offense as a quarterback — and not as a “gadget” player to be used occasionally.
“I recognize Justin and the best way he has gone about the whole lot to date,” Reid said Monday. “He’s been nice with the whole lot. He’s a official quarterback, a beginning quarterback within the NFL, and we’re fortunate sufficient to have him right here. If that is the position that he performs early within the season, we now have full confidence that he can do an excellent job with that.”
Although the Chiefs haven’t gone through a plethora of Reid’s plays just yet, Fields acknowledged that the workouts and meetings have already demonstrated to him why he was comfortable being traded to Kansas City.
“Just having that tradition — related to when I was in Pittsburgh — simply that successful mindset,” he said of being in the Chiefs’ training facility. “Even me being right here for 2 days, you’ll be able to inform why that occurs, simply the mindset of the coaches and gamers. The indisputable fact that 99% of the blokes are right here proper now simply reveals you what sort of a staff we’re going to be this yr.”
