How Chiefs Veterans Are Leading By Example Ahead of 2025

The Kansas City Chiefs have been built for greatness over the past few seasons and have achieved that status more times than not. Since the turn of the decade, the Chiefs have won three Super Bowls and have been perennial playoff candidates every season. Not to mention their growing popularity worldwide.

This type of success didn't happen overnight. It was building block after building block to get to the top of the mountain, and those blocks have yet to crumble. The Chiefs have created an expectation that has traveled from one generation of players to the next. And that is the leadership they have gotten from their veterans.

Before Patrick Mahomes became the starting quarterback for this Kansas City franchise, the Chiefs had veteran quarterback Alex Smith. Smith's leadership in 2017, while Mahomes sat and learned, was the building block of getting Mahomes prepared for his future veteran leadership. And that time is now.

Mahomes, going into his ninth NFL campaign, could have easily bypassed this voluntary OTA period, but that isn't how the Chiefs have stayed on top all these seasons. The likes of Chris Jones and Travis Kelce, just to name a few, have also appeared during this period, something the Chiefs' rookies will soon appreciate, if not already.

"I always say it's whenever you're the guy that's already got the gold jacket on," Mahomes said on the importance of Kelce showing up to OTAs. "If it's him or Chris Jones, and they're working hard, and they're showing what it takes to be great. It's easier for me to talk to the young guys and say, when they're tired, that they need to keep working, they need to keep pushing."

"They don't need to be here, and they're still gonna go out there and have success on the field. They take care of their bodies and work hard in the offseason. And so for them to still show up and set that standard, it sets the standard for everybody else that's going on the practice field."

One day, Kelce, Jones, and Mahomes will no longer be members of the Chiefs' active roster, but their impact will be remembered long after by the examples they are setting now as veterans on this championship-worthy roster.

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