Titans GM Mike Borgonzi joined ESPN’s Peter Schrager this week and shared a story from his time scouting Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City. It’s an entertaining tale of a pivotal decision in NFL history, but it also demonstrates just how tricky this time of year can be when you’re trying to read the tea leaves.

Mike Borgonzi’s Patrick Mahomes draft story of secrets and war games

Borgonzi went into his earliest memory of the Mahomes scouting process with Schrager, setting the scene:

“The first time, you know, me and Veach sat in this back room in Kansas City, and it was just me and him.” He described the broom closet nature of the windowless room, where they had to clear out old tapes just to function. Veach sat at a big, old wooden desk across the room from Borgonzi and would call him over to look at guys on tape he found interesting.

“So we would just yell over at each other,” Borgonzi continued, “so he’s like ‘Borgo! Borgo! Come over here.’ He was watching this guy Le’Raven Clark, who was a tackle for Texas Tech.” Clark ended up being a third round pick by the Eagles in 2016. But his final year at Tech was the first year of Patrick Mahomes being the full-time starter for the Red Raiders. He threw for 4600 yards and 36 touchdowns that season.

“He’s like, wow, look at this throw, look at this throw,” Borgonzi said of Veach. “And Veach is always big with the videos and stuff on his phone. So he starts filming it, starts shooting it over to Andy (Reid) and Andy’s probably like ‘dude, it’s May right now, slow down.’ But he was relentless with it.’

So as Borgonzi tells it, the Chiefs front office first became enamored with Mahomes over a full year in advance of eventually drafting him. “We had to keep it as quiet as possible through the whole fall. But we pretty much knew, I think during the fall that we were going with the pick.”

And yet, they went into draft day without any assurances they’d be able to land their franchise QB.

“The night of the draft, you know, we’re all on pins and needles” Borgonzi explained of their need to trade up. “We’re just trying to get up there. And then we finally found a trade partner with Buffalo at 10.”

But if you remember the public perspective of that night, then you know that the target Kansas City was trading up for was unclear. Borgonzi says this was on purpose. “There were some rumors that we were trying to trade up, and I think we might’ve leaked out that we were trading up for a linebacker that night,” Borgonzi said. “Some people took the bait on that one.“

Beware the bait! This is a great story about one of the most pivotal draft decisions in NFL history, but it also gives us a glimpse into the environment and mindset Borgonzi was bred in. He’s a “fog of war” guy, and I think his first year as Titans GM has already proven that. In 2024, it was clear as day that the Bears would be taking Caleb Williams practically the moment the Panthers secured the top overall draft slot (which Chicago owned). Now in 2026, a similar storyline with Fernando Mendoza to the Raiders has permeated the entirety of draft season. Nobody has any doubt where he will go.

But in 2025, with the first overall pick, Borgonzi’s Titans maintained doubt amongst the masses all the way until April. I came back from the Combine at the beginning of March declaring Cam Ward to be a Titan, but that was not a mainstream understanding until around the owners meetings a month later. The Titans kept things quiet and confusing.

Now here we are, roughly a month out from the draft, and the entire draft community is trying to send RB Jeremiyah Love to the Titans at 4th overall. This may very well be what happens. But this is the funny part about draft season: you can convince yourself the fog of war means whatever you want it to mean. When a flurry of top draft experts all mock Love to the Titans, you can assume it’s a done deal. Or perhaps Borgonzi wants the NFL world to think they’re all-in on Love! Then when Adam Schefter pushes back on the idea that Love could be heading to the Titans at 4, perhaps he knows something! Or perhaps he’s been fed misinformation to sow confusion, before people settle on Love as the obvious choice.

That’s the beaty of this final leg of the cycle. It’s lying season, and Mike Borgonzi is very good at it.