A lot of things are different about the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019. They have a new defensive coordinator and a bunch of new players from free agency and the draft. They even have a new set of expectations based on the finish to their 2018 season.
Another thing that is different: It’s Patrick Mahomes’ second year as starting quarterback. He’s a year wiser and he’s coming off an MVP season in which he threw for over 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns.
Everyone’s wondering what is different about the 2019 version of Mahomes. So when tight end Travis Kelce took the podium on Wednesday afternoon, reporters asked him about the differences that he’s seen in the Chiefs’ quarterback.
“I think he is in tip-top shape,” Kelce said. “I mean the guy, he is a heavy dude. He is a heavy dude, so he is naturally just going to be a big guy in the pocket. But he is looking a little leaner and in terms of just his confidence. I mean he had a lot of confidence last year, but this year he has confidence in a direction. Last year it was just confidence in, ‘Hey, I’m just going to figure it out.’ But now he has a lot more things figured out and now it is more so confidence with direction and taking this team to the Super Bowl.”
Aside from the physical difference, I like the idea that Kelce is selling here. Mahomes was confident in his ability last year, but he didn’t quite have the direction. He didn’t know how far that ability could take him. Now that he’s had a taste of that success he has confidence with direction. He knows what he needs to do in order to step his game up to the next level and take this team to a Super Bowl.
It’s a championship mentality for a championship season. I think that is something that we can all get behind.
