If the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes are looking for reasons to be motivated in 2022, they don’t have to look very hard.
A pair of former Chiefs receivers have, in praising their new quarterbacks, thrown a jab or two at Mahomes, already one of the very best quarterbacks the game has ever seen.
First, it was Tyreek Hill, with the cartoonish suggestion that Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa throws the ball more accurately than Mahomes. More recently, Sammy Watkins heaped heavy praise on his new quarterback in comparison to Mahome.
In an interview of Watkins on the Packers’ official website, Larry McCarren attributed this quote to Watkins, when asked by Packers receiver Randall Cobb to compare Mahomes to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“I think Pat is incredibly good, but A-Rod is on a whole ‘nother level,” Watkins told Cobb. (And when McCarren repeated that quote to Watkins, Watkins didn’t deny saying it.)
“He’s amazing,” Watkins said of Rodgers. “How he controls the ball. How he puts everyone in place. I’ve been with a lot of quarterbacks, and I’ve never seen them carry themselves like Aaron Rodgers.”
That obviously includes Mahomes. And it would be difficult for Mahomes to get too bent out of shape about Watkins regarding Rodgers more highly. But Mahomes has accomplished more from a team standpoint in four years as a starter than Rodgers has in fourteen. By the time Mahomes is in his late 30s, he could be far more accomplished from an individual standpoint, too.
Mahomes surely won’t complain about any of it. He’ll file it away, and he’ll use it as fuel to avoid complacency and likely get on the brink of the Super Bowl for a fifth straight year — if not make it there for a third time.