MAHOMES IS THE DAD BOD (AND THE GREATEST?) AS KELCE HAS A RING FOR TAYLOR
The Chiefs are trying to turn an NFL dynasty into global success and certainly have engaging personalities, including a quarterback who jokes about his midsection — and a tight end thinking marriage?
Someday in the twilight, a grandchild will ask about the greatest athletes of my time. And one of my responses will be Dad Bod. By then, Patrick Mahomes might be known as the premier all-time player at the most important position in team sports. He’ll still be the Dad Bod, based on his amusing acknowledgements about his round midsection.
What’s most remarkable about his physique is that he still might lead drives, with his arm and his feet, that take the Kansas City Chiefs to their third consecutive Super Bowl championship. Doesn’t matter. He’ll still give proceeds to the Mahomes Foundation, with Coors Light, when folks buy “dad bod” t-shirts. This week in New Orleans, he was asked to sign a pillow with a shirtless Dad Bod on one side and something else on the other.
“C’mon, bruh,” Mahomes said. “Hey, the dad bod looks pretty good right there. I’m going to sign this side for sure. Which side do you sleep on? That’s what I want to know.”
Truth be known, a quarterback needs weight to absorb poundings on the field, which he will endure against Philadelphia’s defense. And in the final synopsis, his complete lack of vanity only endears us. No. 15 in red, with dirt smear everywhere, is among the favorite sports sights I’ve seen. Who cares what’s under his pads? It’s possible Tom Brady, who is 47, still appears to be in better condition to play for a title. The other quarterback, Jalen Hurts, is built like a beast.
We are discussing Mahomes as something of a miracle, anyway, capable of winning more titles than Brady’s seven. The culture of the Chiefs oozes from his 230-pound frame. This is the season when he refused to accept red velvet cake from Netflix on Christmas. “I’m watching my weight for the playoffs,” he said. To him, body negativity is a motive. Who doesn’t enjoy him as he keeps chasing dreams, as he tries to win his fourth trophy?
“I’m just trying to be the greatest Patrick Mahomes that I can be,” he said. “I mean, that’s obviously a goal of anyone’s is to be the greatest at their profession, but in order to do that, you have to be the greatest that you can be every single day. That’s on the field and the work ethic I put in or off the field in the father and husband that I am. I’m going to try to be the greatest in that way.
“And whenever I’m done with football, if I leave everything out there the way that I feel like I have so far, as far as effort and mentality, I’ll be happy with the results and I’ll let others talk about who the greatest is of whatever profession that is.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs are popular internationally — hello, Taylor Swift — and they view their accomplishments as world-scope. Four titles in six years? “We’re on a platform that we have never been on before, and we’re on that platform as the entire world is converging,” team president Mark Donovan said. “We’re trying to take full advantage of that and create new generations of fans now across the coast.”
They have engaging personalities. There’s no use in describing Mahomes and Travis Kelce with a movie title. They show up for work and win, one with a wife and three children and the other who dates Swift. Mahomes grew up hanging out in major-league clubhouses with his father, Patrick St., who pitched for six teams in 11 years. Kelce was busted for weed and suspended a season from the University of Cincinnati team. Now, they are close friends who hung out on the Eras Tour and are famous globally. Kelce enjoys celebrity, to the point he has fun with media who ask if he’ll propose to Swift after a Chiefs victory.
“A Super Bowl ring? Next question,” he said.
He does say Swift inspires him on the field. “I better hold up my end of the bargain,” he said. “If she's out here being the superstar she is, never taking no for an answer, and always working her tail off, I better match that energy for sure.”
And don’t suggest he’ll retire after Sunday night. “Where will I be in three years? I don’t know. Hopefully still playing football,” said Kelce, 35. “I love doing this, I love coming into work every day and I still feel like I’ve got a lot of good football left in me. But we’ll see what happens. I know I’ve been setting myself up for other opportunities in my life and that’s always been the goal knowing that football only lasts so long. You’ve got to find a way to get into another career, another profession. I’ve been doing that in my offseasons, but for the most part I plan on being a Kansas City Chief and playing football.”
He is accustomed to Super Bowl weeks, emphasizing his ability “to compartmentalize what you’re going through and still be able to be accountable.” Kelce has awakened in the postseason and will be a prime target against the Eagles. For now, any questions?
“What do you love more: Taylor Swift or phantom 15-yard penalties in the playoffs?”
Kelce: “That’s a good question. Anybody else?”
“What would you tell your 12-year-old self?”
Kelce: “Man, take things a little bit more seriously.”
“How do you feel about people hating the Chiefs now?”
Kelce: “People hate the Chiefs? I didn’t know that.”
Finally, someone asked, “What would be your pitch to the non-Swiftie NFL fans for them to jump on board?”
“Who’s not a Swiftie?” Kelce said.
A victory would place Mahomes and Kelce in unprecedented territory. They would be identified, with coach Andy Reid, as the creators of the first Super Bowl three-peat. Brady taped a Mahomes interview for Fox and realizes a fourth championship, before 30, places him within distance of No. 7. Say what you will about the minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and his conflict of interest in doing national weekly broadcasts. He’ll never carry a grudge for Mahomes. He loves the Dad Bod, too.
“I said to him, ‘Look, there is nobody that would be more happy for you than me if you go out and you do something that no other team in history has ever done and no other quarterbacks ever done,’ ’’ Brady said. “Because I love seeing other people achieve great things. Anything that Patrick is doing, I don’t believe will ever detract from what I accomplished in my career.”
Said Mahomes: “As I’ve watched the greats, I think more than anything, it is just being able to win. I know that sounds easy, but being able to win with the team that’s around you, that’s something that’s special and that the greatest do. I think I learned that the most from Tom Brady. He would do whatever it took to win the football game. I care more about the legacy of our team. You know, we’ve put in so much work and worked so hard that I want to be remembered for the team that we are and the team that we built here in Kansas City. I never really think about my legacy.”
Don’t forget: Brady beat Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. What keeps Patrick up at night? “The Super Bowl vs. Tampa. Pretty easy,” he said. But if he wins Sunday, he will have four trophies before 30, which is seven years before Brady won four.
Call him the Dad Bod, if you must. Buy t-shirts and give money to his foundation. He is on pace in the Greatest of All Time race, with the forerunner in the TV booth.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.