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NFL: Patrick Mahomes Drops High-Tech Idea About How Refs Can Improve

Patrick Mahomes wants to change football in a high-tech way. 

Recently, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback appeared on the WHOOP podcast and suggested a new, innovative way for officiating in the NFL— and it involves a microchip. 

According to Mahomes, the chip can be used when the ball crosses the goal line. “I’ve always thought the chip in the ball has to happen sometime, where if you cross the line, it just tells you a touchdown,” Patrick Mahomes said.

He added: “But it also the human error thing, it’s kind of like baseball, balls and strikes, it’s just part of the game. The biggest thing to me is when they get in the pile by the end zone, there is literally no way to tell if he’s in the end zone or not. It’s like you said, it’s just whatever they call. … I’m sure it’ll happen soon enough.”

Patrick Mahomes on the Future of Football

However, the NFL already uses chips in its footballs. The organization uses them for their Next Gen Stats. Mike Pereira, former NFL vice president of officiating, once explained the reasoning as to why chips don’t work as well on the field. 

“You can put a chip in the ball, but then you better put a chip in the guy’s knee, too,” Pereira said in 2017 when talking about using a chip to locate the ball. “The ball is one thing, but it’s not over until the knee hits the ground or the shoulder hits the ground. How accurate is that going to be?”

Although its practicality may come into question, it doesn’t mean chips are off the table for the NFL. But for now, it seems like the NFL will continue to use the chips for stats— which could work in Patrick Mahomes’ favor as he continues to become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Although he didn’t lead his Kansas City Chiefs to victory during this past Superbowl, the 25-year-old hopes to come back even stronger next year. 

“They were the better team today. They beat us pretty good. The worst I think I’ve been beaten in a long time,” Mahomes told reporters after the loss.

He added, “They took away our deep stuff, they took away the sidelines. They did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles. We weren’t executing early, had a few miscues. Guys weren’t on the same page. Credit to them. They played a heck of a game defensively and offensively to beat us.’”