Games with Names - Dudes on Patrick Mahomes

Episode Date: January 17, 2026

We've got a bonus mini-episode for you this week! We're covering 3x Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes! Gronk and Julian Edelman discuss what makes Mahomes so great and some of their favorite stories.Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now.

Listen to the mailroom on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you you get your favorite shows. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyankawali. And I'm Hurricane Dabolu. It's a new year. And on the podcast, Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health. Which means being honest about what we know,

what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that, or am I just depressed? Health stuff is about learning, laughing, and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A new year doesn't ask us to become someone new. It invites us back home to ourselves. I'm Mike Delarocha, a host of Sacred Lessons, a space for men to pause, reflect, and heal. This year, we're talking honestly about mental health, relationships, and the patterns we're ready to release. If you're looking for clarity, connection, and healthier ways to show up in your life,

Sacred Lessons is here for you. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Delocho on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers, but it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York, since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHart Radio,

Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Rob, let's start with AI. Patrick Mahomes is an elite NFL quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. Known for his incredible arm strength, agility, and leadership, leading his team to multiple Super Bowl victories. Few. Not a couple, a few. What, three Super Bowls, been to how many four, no, four Super Bowl he's been to?

Yeah, he's been a four. Three-time champion? Jesus. off the field he is admired for his humility, community involvement, and philanthropic efforts, particularly through his 15 and the Mahomes Foundation. He's a guy for the kids. Loves the kids, just like myself.

I have the Grank Nation Youth Foundation. We're for the kids. That's why I love Patrick even more now. He's for the kids. When you're for the kids, you're a good dude. When you're for the kids, you're a good dude. Mahomes, combination of, Talent, work ethic and character has made him one of the most respected and influential figures in the NFL today.

Wow. Tell you the truth, I don't think AI actually got it right. I mean, if AI got it right, it would have been a page like of like 10 pages. They didn't even say anything about his arm angle thing. Like everyone talks, every human talks about this fucking arm angle. He can throw the ball sideways. He can throw it, you know, over the shoulder. Behind the back.

We see the behind the back this year? He can throw it with his eyes closed. No lookers. I mean, Patrick Levan Mahomes the second. He's, he's, why are you laughing?

Patrick Levant. I love how you're just saying his middle name as well. I like Patrick Levin'amahomes a second. It's, it's a good sound. No, I got a story with him. So back when you were balling in 2017,

Super Bowl against Philadelphia, Minnesota, I had to torn ACL. And so I proceed to go, out and it's me, Cliff Kingsbury, his agent, Eric, and Jacqueline, who was working with Cliff, who's Mahomes's marketing lady, and this rookie Patrick Mahomes. And we were all at this table at some party or some, I don't even know, club. And Mahomes was just like the coolest little dude, chugging beers.

We were sitting back chugging beers. know he was because they still had Alex Smith. This was the year that he sat behind him, right? And no one knew who he was. And he was just, you could tell he was one of the dudes that you wanted to hang around. He's a, he's a fucking just good ass kid. He was like a little puppy there, man. He was just, yo, let's take a shot. You want to la. And it's so crazy to see where his story's gone. I mean, he's a fucking, he's a legend. He's an absolute legend. He is a legend. I don't have a story like that. I just met him one time really quick.

It was on the set of a subway commercial, and I was shooting, and then he was right after me. And, I mean, good thing I didn't have a foot long, you know, in my hand when I met him. That would have been a little awkward. But when I went up to him, we kind of, I just got off set. You got out of your pants.

How would you know that, Jules? I shower with you for 10, 9 years. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah. Oh, yeah. forgot his brother's bigger though yeah he is dan g dan g has a monster piece dan g should represent stuff like back to mahomes all right so i just you know i was coming out of my trail i just finished my set then he was coming on on the set he was coming out of his trailer and then we just

walked by each other i just met him super quick uh for about 30 seconds we just said what's up i don't have a cool story like you jules but he just seems like the ultimate dude like a great guy great teammate person that you know, that will never, you know, any, like, will ever get too big time for anyone. Like fame will never change this guy. Never. Like just the way he acts, the way he carries himself, which is great. And I feel like that's why he's loved by America. The chiefs might not be loved by America.

Yeah. But there's no one that says, hey, you know, I don't like Patrick Mahomes. I mean, if they don't like Patrick Mahomes, it's because he is facing their team, you know, that week currently and beating their ass. That is right. But overall, man, everyone loves Patrick Mahomes. They love his game. They love his personality. They love what he represents.

And he's just the man, dude. Just the way he plays the game as well. He's not scared. He has no fear out there on the field. I mean, he doesn't care if he's going to get hit by a linebacker, hit by D. lineman. Just his game just brings a whole new perspective to the fans in the NFL. Definitely.

And like you said, his success hasn't changed him at all. you can tell how he handles himself in front of the media that he's such a team guy. Like when you watch him, he never, he never points fingers. He only points thumbs. You know what I mean? He never, he never says anything. He always puts it on himself.

And that's what a leader, that's someone who we played with did. That's what Tom did. Exactly. You know what I mean? That's why he, you know, he's in that,

he's doing what Tom shit. I literally think Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady have, have the most similar careers out of like any other quarterbacks. I mean, they both sat behind another quarterback when they got into the league, which I think a lot of first rounders should be doing that. I mean, look how much

mature Patrick Mahomes was, you know, going in when he first started because he sat behind Alex Smith. He got to learn. And then when it was his term up. Yes, Jane and Daniels is the only one that I would say. Yeah, he's NFL ready. But why you got to, like, there's an

exception. But a majority, I mean, I mean, majority of the time, it's better for a player, you know, a first round quarterback to sit. You know, obviously Tom sat behind Drew Blatzow, Patrick Mahom sat behind, Alex Smith. And then it was when it was their opportunity, they were ready to go and they took full advantage. And then they became the starter from there on out. Didn't Josh Allen sit behind, wasn't Fitzpatrick there for a little bit early on? He was sitting, he didn't come out. We're not talking about Josh Allen right now.

I forget, I forgot, everybody. You're getting off track. No. But he, like always, though, so you're getting off track. But you always get right back on track. That's why I love you. He's, you just need someone there just whipping your ass at all times. I need it. Yeah. Need it. I need it too. And it's, it really is. He's really revolutionized the quarterback position. You could put him in that same category as like Steph Curry, who's changed the position. Now, Tom, he's just a sit in the quarterback, sit in the pocket type spot type quarterback. best one to do that. The best one to do that. This is the first time where you've seen like the real, real athletic quarterback guy that changes launch angles, guy that makes plays with like second plays within the plays really succeed and do what he's done.

And it's made like, you see the kid at Nebraska? What's his name? Dylan Rayola. I mean, you have now young kids trying to look identical to what Patrick Mahomes is doing. And you see a lot of that. You saw a lot of that with Aaron Rogers and his play, how people emulated, how he plays. You know, you look at how Jordan Love throws and all these younger quarterbacks, the Zach Williams, their little jump passes where they try to get that ground force production. Mahomes is also doing that.

Now people are looking at Mahomes. He's that next generation where everyone of these little kids is really emulating, which is very parallel to what Steph Curry did the NBA. And what also the factor is with Steph Curry now is, too, is that he can hit a three-pointer with a seven-footer in front of his face with the best guard guarding him while he can hit the three-pointer off of one foot falling backwards on a fadeaway that's kind of like my holmes on the field as as an NFL quarterback he's doing no look passes he's falling backwards getting hit he's still throwing it on target what else he's throwing it underhand to the guy so him and stuff

curry are very similar in the way that they can just release that ball and still get it to exactly where they needed to go and swish every shot still it's unbelievable Rob, what a fucking, what that, that was a fucking three, that was a half court three point. That was a three point. From down. That was a three point. I'm heating up. That was a three point.

I got a scouting report for freaking Patrick Mahal. What is this got a report? I wrote a scouting report. He's crafty. He has great ability to extend plays. And that's actually what makes Patrick Mahomes possibly, possibly better than the goat in the end. That's the only thing that I would say could possibly make him. better than Tom Brady in the end is that he can extend plays to a whole other degree.

But he's never going to be better than Tom. Even if he is, I'll never say that because I love Tom. Also, I'm just saying the way he can extend plays, that's what makes the Kansas City Chiefs so good. He's about to be sacked and he just rolls out, spins off a defender. And then he throws it to Travis Kelsey or Tyreek Hill when he had him or a no name seventh rounder like you, Julian, once again, making that seventh rounder famous like Tom did with you. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's like me, Travis Kelsey famous like Tom, Brady made, you know, myself famous, you know, throwing the balls to me. That's what that's what that's why these quarterbacks are great because they're making us famous as well. Making us money. So what were you going to say? What were you going to say? I don't know.

Good. I forgot what I was going to say. It's also pretty cool that he has like in our situation. We never really had an offensive minded head coach. and we never really got to see the tandem of head coach with offensive or with with quarterback. You know, like I think his relationship with Andy Reid is something really special as well. I think they can, they can finish each other's sentences. Now, Brady and Belichick could do that too, but I think when they finish each other's sentences,

there's like a twinkle in their eye, you know, like it's kind of like, it's like, I'm the one who finish the sentences. Yeah, yeah. I see. No, but it just, I think, you know, for as much as the public is getting sick of the Kansas City Chiefs, it's, it's guys like Patrick Mahomes. They got some really cool dudes at the top of that organization. Even Trayv, man, he's a really cool dude. Definitely.

Like, where you don't mind rooting for them. You know, they're great. And I'm rooting for the greatness to see it. I mean, not crazy. All right. Back to the Scott and report. I had a couple more, you know, X factors on that scouting report. He has awesome vision, obviously.

He's creative. He's unflappable. You know what that is, Jules? What is that? You know, like, he just can't be tackled. He can't be stopped. Slippery. Yeah, he's slippery.

There it is. He's slippery. Slipperly and what? Shout out Bon Jovi. Kind of like Kamara, but as a quarterback, Kamara's slippery when he goes through that hole, like no one can get him and he just falls off of every tackle. Twinkle to him.

He makes off-sched-stchedule plays as, as well, which that's why the Kansas City Chiefs are so great and they have a chance in every game because of those off schedule plays. And you're supposed to be sacked. It turns into a 30 yard bomb. He's even keel. He's never too high and he's never too low. No.

Which that's how you need to be in the NFL because the NFL has so many highs and so many lows. And if you can stay in the middle, that's a talent right there itself. Even when he's doing the whole, uh, the one thing that it fucking cracks me up, what he does is when there's a penalty or something, and he'll stick his little head in the referee fucking huddle. It's like, oh, and he does that little, that little fucking head wave, oh, it's on them. It's on them.

I get so mad when he does that. I don't know why. I know, and it's not on them. But he's kind of like, he's influencing the refs. He's calm cool. It's on us. It's on us. It's on us.

It's on us. It's like calm cool thing that you were saying. Go ahead. And most importantly, he's durable. Durable. And if he's hurt, he still goes out there and he performs. He what? In the playoffs,

he had like the high ankle spray. Dude, he just came right back out and just kept throwing bombs still. So a Super Bowl. That's what makes a quarterback, a quarterback is when you're injured, you know, an elite quarterback and elite quarterback is when you're beat up still, you're still going out there. And that's why this guy reminds me of Tom a lot. Yeah.

A lot. Because Tom, hey, he would go out there no matter what the situation was where, however he was banged up, he would still perform and go out there and play too. So many injuries, no one knows about that Tom played through because that's how good he was. and that's what Patrick Mahomes does. He adjust his game when he's hurt. Remember, like, with that high ankle sprain, who was that, that was their last,

two Super Bowls ago? It was the first one where you had the high ankle sprain. Two Super Bowls ago. And I was sitting there like, this could be really bad. And he had that really big run. He had a really big third down run that was like, that sealed the game, I think.

I'm coming off memory. And I was sitting there like, man, that's what competitors do. They don't talk. You know, he, he didn't make it loud about his ankle, but when it was freaking nut cutting time, the due went out and he was an assassin made the play. He always makes the play when his team needs him to make the play. And that's why he's considered the best quarterback in the league right now. Well, I mean, he's clutching big moments. There's no doubt about that. I mean, I don't think the Kansas City Chiefs didn't have Mahomes. They want to have, you know, one in these situations that they've been winning in. I mean, the guy comes through,

every single time they need a big play. And when the game is close, he manages to score or put them, you know, the offense in field goal position. So then Bucker can just go out there and just kick a 70 yarder right through the middle and just win the game every time. And it's crazy.

It's crazy. It's a lot of their team is like very similar to ours. Very similar in all in all ways. If you really think about it. Great kicker. Yes. Best quarterback in the league. Mm-hmm.

And then a lot of great tight, best tight end in the league. Yes. And you know, Travis kind of having, he's getting a lot of the eyes right now. His production's down. But then they always have some other guy. You know what I mean? Some other guy as well. The defense is strong.

Chris Jones on the defensive side is kind of like Devin McCordy and Dante Hightower. Like they're very, very similar. And then obviously coach Belichick, coach Andy Reid, very similar coaches. And you want to know where they're very similar as well from what I've heard. Practice is they practice hard. Practice hard. They practice hard, and in New England, we practiced hard.

It made games easier if you were recovered for the game. I already made the game suck if you weren't recovered for the game. There was one time where he didn't come in clutch. When was that, Jules? Was that when there was a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay that you were playing in? Yeah, but, you know. It was just an overall domination of the whole team. Yeah.

Yeah. They were missing those linemen. Yeah, they were missing the lineman. And we just dominated, you know, the whole entire game. We dominated that offensive side of the ball. We had a great game plan going in. Everyone, we had a script of like 80 plays and literally we ran like all 80 of those plays to the exact T that we wanted to.

It went literally from practice and translated right into the game. We were just checking mark, checking off like every play that we ran that we go to the next and every play that we went to the next and every. every play was working. And on top of our defense was ready. We even got blown out versus them in the regular season. I think that was our last regular season lost too. And before we went on that, you know, eight game winning streak. But yeah, the defense, we, we just scouted them like, like it was nothing, dude. We were, we were on Mahomes big time. But it really wasn't Mahomes's fault. It was just a domination just overall as our team dominated their whole team in every aspect of the

game. really didn't have a chance to, you know, perform like Mahomes. Yeah. Yeah. That's that that was a great game. That really was. And then on top of it, man, what about the freaking, um, AFC championship game? That's another time, you know, no, when we face Mahomes and AFC championship game, man.

I mean, I mean, the best AFC championship game of all time, I believe. And it was our time to shine as well. And it was always, you know, a doubt. Hey, can the New England Patriots go on the road? and win a Super Bowl. We never did before them. We never done that before. And that solidified us to be the dynasty.

The dynasty of all dynasties. Because we went into Arrowhead, 2018, the chiefs were the number one sees. Sexy team. They were electric. And let me tell you, Mahomes didn't disappoint in this game. No, he did.

The reason why Mahomes lost is because he didn't have a chance in the playoffs, in the, not the playoffs, in overtime. But touch the ball because we got the ball first. We went right down the field and scored. And guess what? I watched that game just now in Dallas with my nephew. He put the game on the last five minutes of the game. Let me tell you, my blood was my heart was racing. My blood pressure was up because it was one of the best games I've ever seen.

I haven't ever rewatched it either. And Jules, man, you came through in the clutch, boy. So did you? No. Well, yeah, I did too. But no, let me tell you, third and ten. We did that a lot. The game's over.

We're down by four. Oh, Rob, you know, just chip black in the DN giving Tom extra time, Tony Romo in the booth. Now expect Julian out of the man to go up, you know, like he's running under, then to go up like he's going deep and then the run across or Tom Brady will hit him. It's third and ten. That's going to be the play. Boom. What happened? You go right across the middle on an over route.

Boom. First down. Third and ten again. Tony Romo. Expect Julian across the middle. across the middle. Tom Brady's going to hit him. Expect Gronk to chip. Give Tom more time. Boom. Hit Julian up the fricking middle once again for another first down. And then Tony Romo again. Well, this time, Gronk is spread out wide. Let's see what he can do. It's third and time.

Tony was pretty on it. Guess what? He just has to go to Grank. It's one-on-one covers. He's not going to look anywhere else. What happens? Fade route first and 10, baby. Let's go, baby. You came through clutch so much. You had a heck of a playoff run that that year as well. That was a fun year. And that was kind of the passion of the torch for Tom to, to Mahomes. You know, it was kind of like, for at least that matchup. Tom played him again in New England in Tampa. But like that was like a different one because that was like,

that was the road to the AFC championship was always through us. And it went to them, Tom had to say right before he left the conference, say buddy it was a hell of a run you'll always hold my beer you'll always remember me you'll always remember you didn't win when i was here and as soon as top left that little buff he's been winning the balls ever since so patrick behomes what kind of time we we went way over it's patrick behombs oh my gosh we're at 20 minutes yeah oh my gosh it felt like 10 minutes the guys guy as one as a starter from the very beginning he's a fucking guys no losing seasons is he's he's All right.

We're talking about him. He's on pace to be the best. We're only supposed to talk about him for 10 minutes, but it's been like 20 minutes. But we could talk about Mahomes for the next two hours. Three. Three really wanted to. There's so many crucial situations. I want to have a beer with him again.

So many situations he's been in where he has come back and just made magic happen. He should be right here one day and we should have a beer with him. That's the kind of guy he is. Yeah. But we got to get to this. What kind of dude, you know, is Patrick Mahomes? I kind of feel like we kind of went over it and already hit it. But is he a stud?

Is he a freak? Is he a dog? Is he a whiz? Is he a dude's dude? I mean, I feel like he represents in, you know, all these categories. But what is he? What one does he most exemplify? I think two right now that are coming to three are coming to me right now.

Freak, dog, and dudes dude. Freak dog and dudes do. I mean, the guy's a wizard, though. And he is. He's a wizard and he's wizard. Basically recreated the offense because of him. He basically recreated how you. I'm going to go with the quarterback.

But what I'm really thinking, I'm definitely going to go with one of the three that, you know, you hit. Maybe Patrick Mahomas deserves two of them because he's just that good. But we can't do that. We can't break the form for no one. And it was so great.

He is a freak and he's a freak with a dad bod. But that's the advantage is that a quarterback, here's my big take on quarterbacks is if you're jacked, you're going to only have like three years in the end. NFL. If you're coming out in your jack coming out of college. I'm not even going to bring up any names, but I can name so many

that these quarterbacks are jacked. They can bench so much that your arm's going to fall off because you're too tight after three years. That's why this guy's so great because he has a dad bod. And when you have a dad bod, you're a looser than freaking he's a fucking dog.

A loose cannon. Yeah. He is a dog. He is a dog. But he's a freak dog. Yeah, he is. So can he be a freak freaky dog? Or is he just a whiz? He just clutch. Nah, he's more than a whizzo. Wizz is like someone that's really smart that keeps him in the

league longer because they're not a freak. So you can't give him like a whiz. You can't give him whiz. But I think he's a dog. He is a dog. Because the mental physical toughness, always motivated, relentless. There's so many freaking, there's so many third

downs that we don't even talk about. that he converted when his team needed it, that like made a drive more or that took an offense off the field or kept an offense off. There's so many of those situations that he's a fucking dog. He's an assassin. He will murder your team. All right, Jules.

Like I said, we can talk about him for the next three hours. We got to put him in the category of a freak or a dog. What is he? Or you got three seconds to decide. Freak. He's a freak. He is a freak. a freak.

There's only one, Patrick. He's a freak. I know that the little kid out in Nebraska. He got the shades, the haircut, the same damn walking, clap and stuff. There's only one of those. He's inspiring. He is, man.

He's a freak. Freak of nature. All right. Stamp it. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken.

But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your favorite shows.

Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanko Wali. And I'm Hurricane de Bolu. It's a new year. And on the podcast's Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health. means being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that or am I just depressed? Health stuff is about learning, laughing, and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A new year doesn't ask us to become someone new. It invites us back home to ourselves. I'm Mike Delarocha, a host of Sacred Lesson. A space for men to pause, reflect, and heal. This year we're talking honestly about mental health, relationships, and the patterns we're ready to release. If you're looking for clarity, connection, and healthier ways to show up in your life, Sacred Lessons is here for you.

Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Deloach on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers. But it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally. finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York, since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.