Patrick Mahomes isn’t ducking the Top 100 conversation. He’s just not feeding into it. As the league prepares to unveil its 2025 rankings, speculation is already circulating. Fresh off a brutal 40-22 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl 59. A game that saw Mahomes take six sacks, throw two picks, and fumble once. The noise around his standing hasn’t quieted. But the Chiefs star is keeping it steady for his 9th season. “We’ve had a lot of great players in this building, a lot of great players, and so it makes it enjoyable to come to work every single day,” he said in June. A message that sounds less like PR and more like someone already locked back in.

That Super Bowl loss wasn’t just a blemish. It was a gut punch. No late-game magic. No escape act. Just 60 minutes of punishment, Mahomes couldn’t outmaneuver. “There’s no way around it. Anytime you lose a Super Bowl, it’s the worst thing in the world,” he said afterward. And now, with the Top 100 Players of 2025 countdown underway, every ranking, every debate, and every hot take is landing differently. Mahomes isn’t denying what happened. He’s just choosing not to dwell on it.

BBQ Chiefs took to X, posting an interview with Patrick Mahomes on the NFL Top 100 list, and the clip instantly lit up timelines. The interviewer went straight for the throat: How would you describe your relationship with this year’s Top 100? Mahomes didn’t blink. “I know it’s coming. I mean, but I know it’s a year-by-year thing,” he said, with the kind of poise only a three-time Super Bowl MVP can deliver. It wasn’t just deflection. It was context. Moreover, Mahomes knows exactly what kind of shark tank he’s in. The NFL is stacked with quarterbacks rewriting the rules. Each season brings a new stat monster, and the Top 100 conversation is less about legacy and more about recency.

And Mahomes? He gets it. “There’s a lot of great quarterbacks, a lot of great players in this league.” That’s not just polite quarterback speak. It’s acknowledging the real threat level. Lamar Jackson broke the game open in 2024, becoming the first QB ever to throw for 4,000+ yards and rush for 800+. Josh Allen, the human cannonball, has strung together five consecutive 40+ touchdown seasons and was crowned MVP last year. Joe Burrow? The surgical technician returned from wrist surgery to lead the league in both yards and TDs while completing a historic 70.6% of his passes. Not only is the list not just crowded but it’s cutthroat.

Still, Mahomes never flinches. “They can rank me wherever they rank me… at the end of the day, all I’m trying to do is win Super Bowls.” That’s the north star for No. 15. While the metrics chase headlines and rankings stir drama, Mahomes plays the long game. He’s already the fastest to 30,000 career yards. He holds a 79% win rate. He’s racked up 245 touchdowns through the air and another 14 on the ground, and he’s still not 30. The others might be stacking stats. Mahomes is still stacking banners.

Built for the long haul, focused on the now

Patrick Mahomes isn’t just heading into Year 9 with the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s doing it with purpose. With much of his original core still in place, Mahomes believes continuity is part of what makes this stretch so special. “I still have some guys with me that have been there the whole time,” he said, before acknowledging how fresh faces also help him stay sharp. “Adding new guys gives you a new juice and a new spirit to go out there and be even better.” The quarterback who’s “still not 30 yet” clearly isn’t hitting the brakes. With youth on his side and veterans at his side, Mahomes is locked in on one outcome for 2025.

Mahomes enters the season with a staggering 89-23 regular season record and a 17-4 mark in the playoffs. The three Super Bowl wins and five AFC titles speak volumes. But even for someone used to hoisting trophies, the sting of last year’s 40-22 Super Bowl loss to the Eagles still lingers. “It hurt more than the wins feel good,” Mahomes admitted. And if those words say anything, it’s this: Kansas City isn’t coasting in 2025. They’re coming to dominate.

The hunger extends far beyond QB1. The locker room as a whole has bought into the same mindset. Take Trey Smith. The 26-year-old offensive lineman has quietly become one of the most dependable names on the roster, missing just one game since 2021 and forming a rock-solid wall next to Creed Humphrey. Despite entering his fifth NFL season, Smith isn’t talking about personal accolades. Like nearly every other Chiefs player photographed at camp holding up a goal slate, his message was blunt and unanimous: win a Super Bowl. Moreover, the energy in Kansas City isn’t about past glory. It’s about finishing unfinished business.