The Kansas City Chiefs, fresh from their second consecutive Super Bowl championship in 2023, have entered the preseason with renewed vigor and a clear set of goals. With quarterback Patrick Mahomes at the helm, the team is already setting its sights on maintaining their championship form while ironing out inconsistencies that plagued their previous season.
Reflecting on Last Season
"The end result [last season] was awesome, but I think a lot of us still have a weird feeling in our mouth," Mahomes admitted. "It wasn't fun every single week having to try to just continue to get better and better and the results not paying off the way you wanted to. We have a lot of those same guys back and they know how that felt, so we're going to try to prepare ourselves better this year so that we can play better throughout the season and obviously try to end with the same result."
Despite the highs of their Super Bowl victory, the journey there was fraught with challenges. Mahomes acknowledged the team's offensive inconsistency, hoping that the lessons learned will translate into a smoother path this season.
Training Camp and New Additions
As the Chiefs begin their training camp preparations at Missouri Western State University, they'll welcome quarterbacks and rookies on Wednesday, with the full team joining by Sunday. This preseason will be particularly crucial for integrating new talent into the squad.
Adding depth and speed to their offensive lineup, the Chiefs signed free agent Marquise Brown and drafted rookie Xavier Worthy. Worthy, who ran a stunning 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, setting a new event record, is expected to contribute significant speed to the offense. However, his progress was slightly hampered by a sore hamstring during most of the offseason practice sessions.
Mahomes' Role and Expectations
Mahomes is well aware of the hard work ahead. "There's no easing [him in]," he said of the rookie Worthy. "He's going to have to be ready to go. We got a lot of competition on this offense. He got a lot of mental work in these last few weeks that he had during OTAs and minicamp, but it's time to go now. Y'all saw it with Rashee [Rice] last year and some of the throwing-up days he had. We're going to push you to the limit and prepare yourself to be ready to go for the season. That's not just him. That's everybody and everybody has to have that mentality when they come into camp."
Speed has been a focal point of the Chiefs' strategy. "We added a lot of speed. What's better than going against our defense? It's the best defense in the NFL and we get to go against them every single day and really show where we're at and how we can get better," Mahomes stated.
Goals and Mentality
Returning to their training camp location in St. Joseph, the team is ready to build on their past success. "We're back at St. Joe. It's time to get better. Every season starts differently. You've got to come in with that same mentality you had the year before, even with a higher intensity and even though we won the Super Bowl last year, we felt like we didn't play our best football, especially offensively. So it's our goal to be better that way and coming in with that mentality every single day," said Mahomes.
Off the Field
Outside of football, Mahomes continues to embrace his growing responsibilities as a family man. He and his wife Brittany are expecting their third child. "It's awesome. I always wanted to have kids young. I got to grow up in the locker room. I think I've talked about it before and it made such an impact in my life and so I wanted to have kids young and we're having our third kid now to join our family. Brittany does a great job of doing that and we still go out and enjoy our life and let our kids see these great things they might not be able to remember what videos of and it is really cool. I spend so much time in the building at football for these seven, eight months and whenever I'm with my family, I want to enjoy those moments," he shared.
In a light-hearted note, Mahomes added, "I'm done. I'll say that. I said three and I'm done."
As the Chiefs embark on a new season, balancing the intensity of professional football with personal life, Mahomes and his team are poised to defend their title while aiming for a more consistent and dominant performance throughout the season.