Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach is probably relieved at his NFL MVP quarterback's main offseason obsession.

Patrick Mahomes is an ultra-competitive online video gamer, especially when it comes to "Call of Duty," the popular first-person shooting game. Button mashing with online combatants is a pursuit that is less likely to rile up the Chiefs GM than when he recently saw Mahomes playing a pickup basketball game at a local fitness club.

Upon viewing ESPN's post on Twitter of Mahomes busting a spin move for a layup, Veach quickly called Mahome's agent Leigh Steinberg and nixed the QB's basketball activities.

"It became a huge story," said Mahomes, who took time to chat with USA TODAY about his visit to Treyarch, one of the Activision-owned studios that creates the "Call of Duty" games. "He was more worried about my playing hard because he knows how competitive I am. At the same time, I understand where he is coming from and trying to keep myself healthy and my body in the best shape possible."

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Mahomes visited the Santa Monica-based Treyarch to see the latest new wave of content hitting "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4" this week on PlayStation 4 (other platforms to follow). The new season, called "Operation Grand Heist," has new vehicles, outfits, maps and activities for its online multiplayer game, and Blackout, a battle royale mode in which players compete to be the last one standing à la "Fortnite." There are also new features for the game's Zombies mode ahead of a brand-new content experience coming in March.

"Black Ops 4" with its new updates "is more objective-based (and) not exactly the traditional multiplayer game," Mahomes said. "It makes the game more fun. You have to move around, use different vehicles, use different guns and have more objectives."

Mahomes, 23, who led the Chiefs to its first AFC Championship game in more than two decades, plays some sports video games, including "Madden NFL" and "NBA 2K" but said, "I like to hop on 'Call of Duty' and Blackout to kind of get myself away from sports."

Like many athletes, he has played "Fortnite" but now focuses on "Black Ops 4." "I am able to go from Blackout to multiplayer so fast and kind of keep myself fresh in different types of game modes," he said.

A longtime "Call of Duty" fan, Mahomes remembers playing "Modern Warfare" when it came out more than 11 years ago. "But I really started getting into it when the 'Black Ops' series started coming out (in 2010) when I was in high school. I really remember grinding in high school with my friends playing for hours and hours really getting into the game and I’ve actually played ever since then."

Mahomes surprised NFL fans – and defenses – by completing an opposite-handed pass and a no-look pass during the season. So it's no surprise he's aggressive on the virtual playing field, too.

"I am definitely an aggressive player, for sure, I like to run and slide around and always be in the action," he said. However, "in Blackout, I am definitely more strategic, more kind of plan-it-out versus with multiplayer ... I’m really aggressive and attacking the whole entire time."

Many NFL players bring their game consoles with them on the road during the season, Mahomes says. Not him.

"I try to make sure that I can focus on the game plan, the night before the game," Mahomes said. "During the season, I try to have my set schedule. I do get like two hours in a week on a Monday or a Friday to kind of blow some steam and play the game, but the offseason is when I really get to grind and play for three or four hours at a time."

In his full-time job, Mahomes hopes to see the Chiefs level up next season. "The goal for next year is the Super Bowl. That is the only goal, really," he said. "We had a lot of success this year. We got to get a lot of experience in a lot of big-time games against a lot of great opponents. We have the team to do it. Now it’s just about getting better every single day using it as a step-by-step, day-by-day process in order to get to that ultimate goal."

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

