Kansas City Chiefs Have Top Receivers Work Out With Patrick Mahomes In Move That Could Backfire

With the NFL Draft quickly approaching, the Kansas City Chiefs are narrowing-in on their first round pick. As the reigning Super Bowl champions, they will pick last, which makes things tricky.

30 players (Miami forfeited its first round pick) will be drafted before Andy Reid and co. are on the clock, unless the team decides to trade up. All of their top targets could be gone by the time they're set to announce the newest member of the Chiefs.

Regardless of how things end up playing out, it seems like Kansas City is targeting a pass-catcher.

Quentin Johnston, Patrick Mahomes, Zay Flowers(Photos by: Cooper Neill/Getty Image, Fred Kfoury III/Jordon Kelly/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

TCU wide receiver Quentin Johnston spent time with Patrick Mahomes and some of the other offensive players on Monday. Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers is in Texas to workout with Mahomes on Wednesday. And according to Adam Schefter, it's at the team's request.

Is that even legal?

This is a unique approach by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Teams typically bring prospective draft picks in to their team facility for private workouts. Kansas City is sending them to Dallas.

A group of Chiefs players have been training together at TCU over the last week or so. Johnston, having played for the Horned Frogs, swung by to catch some passes from the reigning Super Bowl MVP.

It's a smart move for Johnston.

The 21-year-old is considered one of the top-five receivers in this year's class, with his place on that list depending on who you ask. He could (probably won't) be the first pass-catcher off of the board. He could slip to the second round.

However, by working out with Mahomes, Johnston may have helped to secure his place in the first round. Kansas City picks last and their quarterback already has some chemistry with Johnston after their time together this week.

If a team is interested in Johnston, no matter who it may be, it might now go out of its way to ensure that the 1,000-yard receiver doesn't drop to the Chiefs. Working out with Mahomes was a great move for Johnston's draft stock.

The same goes for Flowers.

It seems like the former Boston College receiver is trending to the Giants at No. 25, but there is no way to know what is going to happen. By heading to Dallas and catching passes from Mahomes, any team that might hope that Flowers slips into the second round could be quicker to pull the trigger on him before Kansas City gets to pick.

It's also a cool approach for the Chiefs, even though it could backfire.

By working out with Johnston and Flowers, Mahomes gets to get a feel for what the future could look like with both guys as weapons in his offense. In some ways, he may be in charge of the pick.

That isn't normal. Quarterbacks don't often — if ever — get to go through pre-draft workouts with their prospective future teammates.

At the same time though, it puts a target on Kansas City's back. Both of their hopeful pass-catching picks may not make it to No. 31 now that the secret is out!