Jordan Willis’ father defends him as mystery swirls around deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans: ‘Didn’t do anything wrong’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City man who hosted an NFL watch party at his rental home before three of his friends were found frozen to death in his backyard “didn’t do anything wrong,” his family insisted to The Post Thursday.
“He would never in a million years do anything,” Jordan Willis’ father said of his son as some relatives of the three men have wildly speculated over how they turned up dead.
Willis’ dad said his son is grieving just the same as his friends’ families, some of whom have publicly pointed fingers at Willis and theorized that drugs may be to blame for the deaths of David Harrington, Ricky Johnson and Clayton McGeeney.
Police have said foul play is not suspected and have stressed that it is not yet clear whether drugs were involved as detectives await autopsy and toxicology reports.
Harrington, Johnson and McGeeney were at Willis’ home on Jan. 7 to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game. The trio were discovered dead in the party host’s yard two days later when McGeeney’s fiancée requested a welfare check
“These were all good friends of his, these were all people he went to school with and he took them to a football game the day before for the Chiefs,” Willis’ dad said Thursday outside his Kansas City home.
Willis’ attorney, John Picerno, has said Willis had been “asleep on the couch” next to the whirring of a loud fan for two days.
He was also wearing noise-canceling headphones when concerned family members came calling, the lawyer said.
He allowed police to search his rental home, leading to the gruesome discovery, which Willis said was the first he learned of his friends’ deaths.
Willis’ dad’s defense of his son comes just hours after Harrington’s own father said he’s “not buying” Willis’ version of what happened.
“[Harrington’s mother] and I are both convinced that Jordan Willis played a part in this somehow,” Jon Harrington said Thursday.
“There were four of you in the house and now three of them are dead and you’re not. That doesn’t add up,” he added, theorizing that the men witnessed “something that they shouldn’t have seen” before they died.
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Super Bowl spot at stake in first playoff meeting between Mahomes, Jackson
BALTIMORE (AP) – Patrick Mahomes has already defeated an impressive list of quarterbacks in the playoffs: Andrew Luck, Deshaun Watson, Ben Roethlisberger, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa.
And of course, Josh Allen, who was eliminated for the third time by Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs last week.
One star AFC quarterback whom Mahomes has never run into in the postseason is Lamar Jackson. The Baltimore Ravens star could match Mahomes this season with his second MVP award – but is only now making his first appearance in the AFC championship game.
“He’s going to be the MVP for a reason,” Mahomes said. “He leads his team. He scores, he runs, he throws, he does whatever it takes to win, and that’s what the greats do. It’s a challenge for our defense, but also a great challenge for our offense to keep up.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs face that difficult task Sunday at Baltimore in the AFC title game. It’s their sixth consecutive year reaching this stage of the playoffs, but the first time in that span they’ll have to play it on the road.
The Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champions. The Ravens have the NFL’s best record this season. It’s a fascinating matchup made even more so by the presence of Mahomes and Jackson.
Even if Jackson would be happy to avoid such a tough opponent.
“I don’t like competing against him at all,” Jackson said with a laugh. “He’s definitely a Hall of Famer. But I believe it’s just two greats – up-and-coming greats – just going toe to toe, like a heavyweight fight.”
This is the first playoff matchup between former MVP quarterbacks who are both under 30.
That’s not to say Mahomes hasn’t been pushed in the quarterback-deep AFC. Allen has come close to knocking him off, and Burrow actually beat Mahomes in the AFC championship game two years ago before Mahomes won a rematch last season.
Jackson’s most recent matchup with Mahomes was a 36-35 win by the Ravens in September 2021. Mahomes won their meetings in each of the previous three seasons.
“Listen, this league is a lot about the quarterbacks, right? We’re fortunate in this game we have two of the best ones in the league,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “Our goal and what we talk about all the time is, ‘Let’s just get the ball back to our quarterback.’ That’s our job. And the only way to do that is make sure their quarterback doesn’t do the things that he’s capable of doing.”
