When one of your closest friends starts dating someone new, you get to know them too — and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has experienced that process with American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift over the past year.
“I’ve met a lot of famous people now in my life… Taylor’s probably the most down-to-earth person that’s been on that stage for that long,” Mahomes told TIME magazine during a feature interview with Sean Gregory covering the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.
Mahomes made the list for the second straight year, and he was asked about his newfound friendship with Swift.
“She’s never not working,” he said, speaking glowingly of the music industry megastar. “Even when she’s taking her downtime, she’s working on something. Shooting a music video or singing a song or writing a song.”
“You can see it by how she talks,” Mahomes went on. “Even when she’s talking about football, when she’s learning it, you can see her business mind putting it together. It’s almost like she’s trying to become a coach. ‘Why can’t you try this, this, and this?’ She’s asking the right questions.”
As one of the more dedicated athletes of his time, Mahomes can definitely appreciate someone that works hard on their craft, whether that’s throwing a football or creating music. Based on his response, it’s safe to say the Chiefs QB approves of Travis Kelce’s new squeeze.
Patrick Mahomes Says Taylor Swift Turned Chiefs Into ‘Global’ Franchise
The other aspect of Swift joining Chiefs Kingdom was more attention than ever before. And those newfound viewers were noticeable, even for someone as popular as Mahomes.
“[The Chiefs] went from a nationwide team that was kind of global to a full global worldwide team,” the three-time Super Bowl champion told TIME. “That came from Taylor’s fanbase.”
As for the extra attention, Mahomes didn’t see it as a distraction whatsoever.
“We just embraced it,” he voiced during the interview. “We like having that visibility. At the end of the day, football has always been this bruising sport. We want to make it fun, where kids grow up and play football and show their personality and be who they are. This year really magnified that.”
Although the 2023 campaign had its rough patches early on, KC finished strong. And as we know in sports — it’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.
Patrick Mahomes Tables ‘GOAT’ Talk to End of Career
The full feature-length interview with TIME discusses several topics, including how Mahomes nearly chose a baseball career over football. Of course, the Chiefs superstar was also asked about his pursuit of the NFL “GOATs.”
As you’d expect if you’re a fan of Mahomes, the signal-caller brushed off any “greatest of all time” talk until the end of his career.
“You have to build a consistency of a career,” he replied. “You see that in any sport.”
Explaining: “I’ve had a great run. I think I’ve done a great job so far. But it’s hard to take away from what Tom [Brady] did for so long, what Peyton Manning did, or Aaron Rodgers. There are so many guys, they were at such a high level for such a long time. In order to be in that conversation, you have to do that on a year-to-year basis.”
Mahomes also added that to be the best, “you can’t take it for granted that you did it the year before.”
“That’s something I’ll talk about when I’m done playing,” the two-time NFL MVP concluded. “Then people can make those decisions.”
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