Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes used to be at the pinnacle of the youth movement at the quarterback position in the NFL. It wasn’t long ago that he was the youngest ever to win the NFL’s MVP and Super Bowl MVP awards. In the upcoming AFC playoff race, things have changed.
The 27-year-old quarterback finds himself as the oldest quarterback in the AFC playoff picture. It’s not quite as significant an age gap as say 45-year-old Tom Brady and the quarterbacks in the NFC, but it’s still significant. Mahomes says things have changed a bit for him as he enters his fifth consecutive season leading Kansas City to the playoffs.
“Yeah, I feel like it’s changed,” Mahomes said. “I have two kids now, I’m married. I’m kind of an old soul, so I am kind of the oldest – I am literally the oldest quarterback in the AFC. It speaks to the talent that we have in the AFC and the guys 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.”
While quarterbacks like Josh Allen (26), Joe Burrow (26) and Lamar Jackson (26) have been to the postseason before, some even facing Mahomes and the Chiefs head-to-head in the postseason. Allen’s six playoff appearances are the second-closest to Mahomes, who has 11 playoff appearances in his NFL career. Players like Justin Herbert (24), Tua Tagovailoa (24) and Trevor Lawrence (23) are all making their first postseason appearance this season.
Mahomes will look to use his experience, which amounts to an 8-3 postseason record with four AFC title game appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, to give his team an edge in the playoffs.
