AFC Notes: Patrick Mahomes, Antonio Pierce, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders

• According to Aaron Wilson, the Broncos hosted DB Keidron Smith and DT Kobe Smith for workouts. 

Chargers

Chargers team president John Spanos said the team will look at experienced head coaches during the next hiring cycle and added there have been no internal discussions about there being a maximum amount they would be willing to pay their new hire.

“I don’t think it can be the end-all, but absolutely it will factor. That’s an added bonus if someone does have previous head coach experience,” Spanos said, via Joe Reedy of the Associated Press.

“I think if you look at the last three coach hires that we’ve made, all three of them are coaches that were sought after to the point where they were going to get other jobs if we didn’t step up and get them, right?” Spanos said, via Kris Rhim of ESPN. “So we’ve competed for players; we’ve competed for the staff; we’re competing for a new facility.”

Chiefs

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was asked about what the team can do to minimize receiver drops, with Mahomes noting he wants his receivers to have confidence in their pass-catching ability.

“You will never be able to eliminate it completely,” Mahomes said, via Pro Football Talk. “All you can do is work at it, and the guys know that I’m going to keep firing the ball. That’s just who I am. I’m gonna keep firing the ball to the open guy and letting them go out there and try to make plays. Obviously, it happened a little bit there at the end of the game. I think it’s just, the guys gotta have the confidence to know that I’m gonna keep throwing it back to them and they gotta make the plays happen. It’s part of football. Obviously, been too big of a part this year for us, but I trust the guys. I know how hard they’re working at it. They’re going to go out there and be the best players they can be.”

“I mean, they’re gonna do it all,” Mahomes added. “They’re gonna catch balls from me, they’re gonna catch balls from the other quarterbacks, they’re gonna be on the JUGS [machine] after every practice or before every practice. I think it’s all confidence. I think that those guys can catch the football. I’ve seen some of those guys make the best catches I think I’ve ever seen. So I think it’s just going out there playing confident, being them, and if they do that, that stuff will kind of help itself.”

Raiders

Raiders interim HC Antonio Pierce commented on the team bringing in former Patriots CB Jack Jones, who is hoping for a fresh start in Las Vegas.

“He’s always been a wild card, sometimes hit or miss, good or bad,” Pierce said of Jones, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “But he’s a very good football player. Football means a lot to Jack. Football is a way for him to get out of the hood, to be honest, where he came from. He used those resources to benefit his life, his family. He went to school, went to ASU and got a degree. He’s a father, a good man. Been in some trouble. The kid loves to smile. Every time you see him, he’s smiling. He loves football. Can’t have enough of those guys around that love football.”

“Sometimes, as a player, you have a knack and a feel for it, and you never want to take that away from somebody … that opportunity to anticipate, to make a play. But again, I’m going to go back to it, it’s an educated guess. It’s not a random guess and I think that’s good by our coaches. And obviously, Jack Jones took advantage of an opportunity. A lot of guys learn in a lot of different ways and that’s what you learn as a coach,” Pierce continued. “Some guys are film guys, some guys are walk-through guys, some guys [say], Give me all the drawings. But then, every once in a while, you get a guy that sees it all, and Jack Jones is one of them. We have quite a few players on our defense. But again, I’m going to go back to just our coaches. I think that’s a credit to those gentlemen, just getting ready, getting [Jones] in. He wasn’t here the first time we played the Chargers, so obviously he paid attention in the classroom, and it paid off.”