Chiefs’ Tyrann Mathieu raves about Patrick Mahomes’ leadership skills, work ethic
Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu was a guest on this week’s edition of “10 questions with Kyle Brandt,” a podcast done by The Ringer.
It’s a weekly show with a game-show vibe, but Brandt and Mathieu covered a number of topics from Tyreek Hill’s speed to how the Chiefs will handle the national anthem to his tattoos, Mathieu covered a lot of interesting topics.
Here are some of the highlights, starting with questions about Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
How does Mahomes keep his locker?
“He’s set up nice, man,” Mathieu said. “You can tell he takes care of himself at home, he picks up his trash after himself. But the good thing is he has two lockers. So he’s really able to kind of spread out his stuff so it doesn’t look like a big pile of junk. So he’s the franchise though. If he was my quarterback. I’d give him three lockers. I’d give him whatever he wants.“
On Mahomes’ contract extension that could pay him more than a half-billion dollars
“I was so happy for him and his family, first and foremost, but I think whatever deal he signed, the only way to justify it was to give him that kind of money,” Mathieu said. “I think he’s that kind of player. He’s really special. Outside of, really, the wild plays he makes, I think he’s really somebody his teammates can count on day to day just sticking to the process and taking it day by day and trusting coaches and different things like that. So, I was happy for him. I was excited for him, obviously, for me too, to play with a quarterback like that for years to come. It doesn’t happen often. So I’m looking forward to hopefully we can make the most of it.”
On Mahomes’ leadership
“You can never really gauge his intensity level,” Mathieu said. “But it’s there, trust me. I see it in practice, I see how he holds his teammates accountable. I see how he spends five, 10 extra minutes, not just on the field, but it may be in a locker room just talking to his teammates, talking to the linemen, talking to the defense. And I feel like those moments right there really define you as a teammate. Because we all could be selfish outside of what we have to do as far as on the field, but if you’re able to get outside of that and still maintain that, that same level of leadership and maturity and camaraderie with your teammates, I think that says, who you really are. So I’m excited to know the young man, honestly.”
Mathieu says Mahomes is really a shy person
“I don’t think he understands who he is,” Mathieu said. “And maybe that’s a good thing. You know, maybe he’s really grounded and really humble in who he is as a person, but I don’t think he realizes he’s Patrick Mahomes, like a superstar that can walk in Subway and get a free sandwich, you known?”
On Mahomes’ work ethic
“I mean, it’s a great thing to watch,” Mathieu said. “A lot of people talk about it his athleticism, but the kid works hard. I’m one of the first guys in the building every morning and he’s always there before me, and he’s always in the weight room. I think anytime you can rely on your athleticism, but also you can rely on your work ethic, what you believe in, I think that just makes you that much more special.”
If he’d have visited the White House
“I’d probably say I would have,” Mathieu said. “You know, I don’t think I’m in a position to turn down something like that. Aside from whether we agree who’s in office or not, I think that experience is something is really hard to pass up for me personally. I’m a huge football fan. I’m a huge football historian and I always wanted a picture behind the president holding the jersey. You just look forward to little things like that.”
What he saw on “2-3 Jet Chip Wasp”
“To be honest, I think I had my back turned,” Mathieu said. “I was talking to somebody on the bench and they weren’t looking at me. And most of my teammates when I’m talking they look at me, they’re like locked in with me. And they all know ones like this. And all I heard was like this, waaaahhhh, and I turn around and I’m like, ‘Yo, what happened?’ And he like, ‘yo, you should have saw the play.’ And so I watched the replay, but only Tyreek Hill can run that route, only Pat Mahomes can make that throw. Oh, that was a gutsy, gutsy play against a really, really good defense. Most quarterbacks don’t put a ball in the air that long against that team. But only those two guys can pull that one off.”
The tattoos of people’s names on his legs
“I think maybe 23, 24 in total on my right leg. And it really just represents everybody I’ve lost from my grandmother to my best friend, just representing those people, having those people walk with me each and every day,” Mathieu said. “You know, every time I look down on my leg, it gives me great strength, great hope. I know they’re with me. And even on my left leg, I got guys like Bruce Lee, Zeus, Muhammad Ali, you know, spirit fighters. Guys who also if I look down, I know that with me as well, so I just try to keep people that I know are gonna guide me the right way, whether they be dead or alive. Try to keep those people with me at all times.”
Mathieu covered a lot more interesting topics in the podcast, which you can listen to here.
