Most NFL teams aren't foolish enough to poke the bear that is Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. That much is true, and perhaps the only team with the ammo to be able to adequately do that right now would be the Philadelphia Eagles after the way they dominated last year's Super Bowl. However, that hasn't stopped plenty of people from slandering Mahomes throughout this offseason, which NFL teams and Chiefs rivals could absolutely pay for.
When you think of the all-time greats in football or any sport, which Mahomes has already established himself as, there's one trait they have in common: Competitiveness. Slights and slanders, even if mild or ultimately inconsequential, can be used as motivation and fuel to get the best version of the player. After a couple of relatively lackluster season by Mahomes' standards, he's now been gifted plenty of those put-downs to be able to use that as fire that fuels a bounce-back year that wreaks havoc on the rest of the league.
Put simply, Chiefs rivals and any playoff contender could rue the day that these things were said about Mahomes this offseason. They may not have been the ones saying it, but they can certainly feel the brunt of it in terms of the consequences.
Steelers and more could pay for Ben Roethlisberger's slander
With Aaron Rodgers joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, longtime black and gold signal-caller Ben Roethlisberger was talking about Rodgers' arrival. For whatever reason, though, took this as an opportunity during the podcast episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger to slight Mahomes.
"Well, I would take Aaron in his prime over Patrick now. I think Aaron Rodgers in his prime was one of the top few to ever do it — and so is Patrick Mahomes at his prime. Patrick Mahomes is just entering out of his prime, I think."
Just so we're clear, Ben, you're saying that you'd take the one-time Super Bowl champion and four-time MVP in his prime over the three-time champ and two-time MVP who, by Roethlisberger's own admission, hasn't entered his prime? Just trying to keep up here with whatever backward math we're working with in this comparison.
With Rodgers, though, the Steelers are going for it in the AFC this season. Big Ben making such a comment is not only going to make Pittsburgh's path through Mahomes in the conference that much more difficult, but the Chiefs star could also take that personally and ultimately take it out on the rest of the league as well.
Mahomes definitely knows where QB rankings have him
While anyone who's watched could certainly admit that the Chiefs offense and, thus, Mahomes have taken a step back statistically over the past two seasons, most normal people would look at the quarterback and still know what he's capable of — especially if Kansas City actually did fix the offensive line issues and upgraded at wide receiver this offseason. But Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports might've taken that too far when he provided a slanderous ranking of Mahomes in the NFL hierarchy at the position.
Benjamin ranked all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks after this year's draft. Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen were all ahead of Mahomes, who came in at No. 6. Those are phenomenal players and quarterbacks, without question. At the same time, it shouldn't sit right with logic and reason to say that Mahomes is only the sixth-best quarterback in the NFL. And you have to believe that Mahomes, at some point, has caught wind of that sentiment.
If Mahomes takes that to heart and comes out on a mission to prove that he's better than the sixth-best QB in the league (which he already is), it could spell a ton of trouble for any opposing defense that's standing in his way throughout the year.
Kansas City radio host became an enemy of Chiefs rivals talking about Mahomes' weight
I can't say that I expected someone from Mahomes' own backyard to be one of the people throwing shade at the Chiefs quarterback, but here we are. Kevin Keitzman, a radio host in Kansas City, went off on Mahomes' dad bod during a July episode of his podcast, Kevin Kietzman Has Issues. And he went so hard after it that even Mahomes' trainer had to retaliate before the quarterback ever could on the field.
"Vacation photos are popping up of Patrick Mahomes and he’s fat," Kietzman said. "I’m going to say it and I’m going to tell you the truth. That’s why you hit the play button. He’s an embarrassment. You’re a $500 million quarterback. You’ve made all these comments in the offseason that ‘We’re going to do our talking on the field,’ and ‘We got our butts kicked in the Super Bowl and we’re coming back with a vengeance.’ Dude, you’re fat. Your belly would be fat at my pool hanging out with us 60-year-olds. My skin is as flabby as yours. I get it. Stop the fast food. Do a situp. Do something."
Now, I want to leave some room for the possibility that Kietzman is trying to pull some sort of Jedi mind trick here into getting Mahomes into even better shape. On the whole, though, these comments are just wild, and ones that, if the trainer is responding, we can only assume the quarterback has already heard about as well.
No matter where it came from, though, it's not hard to imagine Mahomes going on a 15-yard scamper into the end zone, and then doing a postgame interview with a shot back at Kietzman to the tune of, "Not bad for a fat guy eating fast food". Again, no Chiefs rivals had anything to do with this, but they're the ones who are going to get the worst of it whenever Mahomes does try to exact his proverbial revenge.
