Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II is the favorite to win the NFL MVP award in 2022.
With everyone picking against them in 2022, the Kansas City Chiefs finished the regular season with the No. 1 seed in the AFC conference.
The whole team seemed to play with a chip on its shoulder all year long and quarterback Patrick Mahomes II led the way. Now he’s the favorite to win the NFL MVP award — which would be his first MVP trophy since that magical year two run in 2018.
“Obviously, the MVP award is a special award that, if you get it, you’ll cherish that for the rest of your life,” Mahomes told reporters during the hard-earned bye week. “It’s something that I think you can look back at more at the end of the season, [or] at the end of your career, and you can think about those great times that you had.”
He continued: “It’s a trophy that symbolizes the team that was around you so you can think about those memories that you had with those guys, and how you went to battle with them and were able to win a lot of football games. Like you said, we’re focused on the Super Bowl right now and trying to get there and win it, but obviously it will still be a big moment in my life that I’ll be able to forever remember.”
‘Old Soul’ Patrick Mahomes Envisions New AFC Era
In terms of the MVP award and the Super Bowl title, Mahomes admitted that he would appreciate both more now that he’s been through “the trials and struggles of losing.” He added that defeat “builds a greater appreciation for the grind and how you have to come every single day to work not knowing [if] you’re going to be at the top at the end of season.”
The rising AFC has not made things any easier on Mahomes or the Chiefs. With quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and now Trevor Lawrence emerging every year, this conference has begun a new era and the KC superstar can sense it as the current veteran of the times.
“I have two kids now, I’m married, I’m kind of an old soul,” Mahomes joked to the media, “I am literally the oldest quarterback in the AFC [playoffs], [and] it speaks to the talent that we have in the AFC. The [quarterbacks] that I’m looking around at are going to be there for a long time, so I’ll be the old head in the AFC for a while now and I’ll try to use that experience to my advantage.”
It is interesting to think about that at 27 years old, Mahomes has become a senior face of this new generation. Once icons like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers retire, as well as some of the fellow members of their QB timeline, then Mahomes will truly be the elder statesman of the position.
I guess that’s part of why players joke that the NFL stands for “not for long.”
Patrick Mahomes Reveals Favorite Play of 2022
During the same press conference, the Chiefs signal-caller was also asked about his favorite play of the 2022 season.
“My favorite play would probably be the one to Jet [Jerick McKinnon] in Denver,” Mahomes detailed, “just cause it was one where I legit did not think I was throwing the ball at all, I was just trying to get the ball out of my hands as quickly as possible and then seeing it on the T.V. copy of it and then seeing how it looked — it looked sweet. So, that would probably be my favorite play of this season so far.”
He didn’t specify beyond that, but Mahomes is definitely talking about the no-look flip to McKinnon that sort of resembled head coach Andy Reid’s State Farm commercial. Let’s take one more look, shall we?
This angle of the Patrick Mahomes no-look TD pass is insane👀
It’s hard to disagree with this answer from Mahomes, and the best part about his response was the end. He included the words, “so far,” after concluding that this was his favorite play of the campaign.
As is always the case with the quarterback nicknamed “Showtime,” the best is yet to come.