Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay welcomed his friend Kliff Kingsbury to the NFL coaching ranks by trying to trick the Arizona Cardinals coach into thinking he would lose draft picks by tampering with Patrick Mahomes.
McVay shared the story of his prank on Kingsbury on The Adam Schefter Podcast, which was posted on Monday.
He said he pulled the prank at a dinner he attended with Kingsbury and Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback with whom Kingsbury has a personal relationship.
“We have a mutual friend that I put his name in my phone as [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell. I had this friend send me a text saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re at dinner with Kingsbury and Mahomes. You know better than this. This is tampering. You’re both losing picks.’
“I showed Kliff the text, and he saw a ghost. I said, ‘You better call [Cardinals general manager] Steve Keim right away.’ He said, ‘I thought I was going to lose the No. 1 overall pick.’
“We couldn’t let it go on too long, but it was pretty good. We got him good.”
McVay said he talked to Kingsbury later about the prank and said the Cardinals coach told him, “That’s messed up. I’m getting you back, man.”