If it wasn't obvious already, Sunday proved the NFL is Patrick Mahomes' league, and everyone else is just playing in it. That might not change anytime soon, either.
At 24 years old, the Chiefs quarterback became the second-youngest starting QB to win a Super Bowl. He's also the youngest player at any position to win league and Super Bowl MVP -- and he accomplished it in his first two full seasons.
In other words, Mahomes is literally just getting started. When asked about a contract extension, which NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport surmised could reach $40 million per year, the third-year QB emphasized how much he values being a Chief.
"To me, that's stuff that's handled with other people," Mahomes said at Monday's annual day-after news conference with the winning SB MVP and head coach. "Obviously I want to be in Kansas City for a long time, understand that. I also want to win a lot of football games here and for me, it's kind of letting that stuff handle itself. I'm in a great organization. I have a great team of guys and girls working for me and so for me it's about trusting those people, finding the best way to do it in order to have the best team around me and getting that done whenever the time is right."
Similarly important, so does Andy Reid. In the aftermath of winning an elusive first Super Bowl, the 61-year-old presumptive Hall of Famer said he's not considering retiring. Look no further than Mahomes for why.
"I don't know. I haven't. I still enjoy doing what I'm doing," Reid said. "I got this young quarterback over here that makes life easy every day. Every day, man, it's a pleasure to come to work and know that you have an opportunity to coach him and his teammates. And (general manager) Brett Veach understands what it takes to win but also the kind of people we enjoy working with. So he brings those kinds of guys in and makes it enjoyable. So I really haven't gone there."
The combination of Mahomes and Reid likely means the Chiefs aren't going anywhere. The franchise has been a perennial playoff team in seven years under Reid but had won just one of five postseason games before Mahomes unseated Alex Smith. Kansas City has won four of five in the playoffs with Mahomes, while also reaching consecutive AFC titles games as a top-two seed.
It's the type of success Reid and Veach envisioned years ago when they first laid eyes on Mahomes at Texas Tech. The Chiefs became so enamored with what they saw that despite the steady play of Smith, they traded two first-round picks and a third-rounder, to select Mahomes No. 10 in the 2017 draft. They shipped Smith out a year later, following a Pro Bowl nod and career-best season from the veteran signal-caller.
"Brett Veach wore [John] Dorsey and I out on Patrick Mahomes when he first became a starter (in college) and just said, this is the greatest player I've ever seen," Reid said. "And I'm going, that's a pretty bold statement. He's seen a few guys. So he kept laying the tape on my desk and I'm going, this is the greatest player I've ever seen. It was one of those deals.
"He was making throws like he made last night and doing that and then you go, well, let's see how he does this in the NFL. You can't do all that stuff and do it so well. Then he came to us and he started doing all that's stuff, the no looks. It just kind of came natural to him, although he works on it. There's a part that's just easy for him and he sees the field, which I appreciate. You could see that in college, on his college tape. You could say all quarterbacks see it, no they don't. Not like he does. He comes off and he can tell you accurately what he saw that play. So there's video evidence if you're right or wrong every play. And after a bit, you go, this guy is unbelievable. He can take it all in. He challenges you as a coach to give him more. His aptitude is ridiculous.
"As a coach, you love that. You're able to feed him new plays and he gobbles those things up and he makes it look even better than they did on paper. And then he's a great leader. So he's got this innate ability to make everybody around him better. You saw that last night."
We can expect to see a lot more of it.
