Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby tend to mix it up a bit when they play one another twice a year as division rivals.
While Mahomes has gotten the better of the Raiders throughout his career, sporting a 10-2 record against the club entering 2025, the two players share an appreciation for each other’s game. Recently, Crosby said that while he sees himself as the league’s best pass rusher, he sees Mahomes as the best quarterback.
In an interview with Up & Adams, Mahomes noted Crosby is one of the toughest competitors he has to face.
“I have so much respect for all those guys in the league that are about their craft, they’re about being better and better,” Mahomes said. “Like he said, we’re going to compete. We know when we step on that football field, we’re going against each other, it’s the Raiders, it’s the Chiefs — it’s two of the greatest in the league going at each other snap [after] snap and continuing to do it twice a year.
“And so, there’s so much healthy respect, but when we get on that football field, it’s going to be trash talk. It’s going to be going out there, he’s going to try to get to me, I’m going to be trying to make big plays happen. But those are the guys — I always say, obviously, he’s on the other team, so I want to go against him and beat him. That’s the guys you want on your team, the guys who are going to leave it all out there, no matter what the score is, and be the best they can possibly be every snap.”
But is Crosby the league’s best edge rusher?
“I think he’s sacked me the most out of anyone I’ve ever played against, so to me, he’s the best pass rusher I’ve played against,” Mahomes said. “So, no offense to any other pass rusher — just putting it out there. But he is the best one that I’ve gone up against because he goes out there and he gives you the effort, he has the moves, and he has the skill. And I think it’s hard to have all three of those and have them year in and year out.”
Crosby has sacked Mahomes six times in his career.
The first meeting between Mahomes and Crosby in 2025 is set for Week 7 in Kansas City.
Janie Hunt, the 9-year-old cousin of Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, died in the fatal floods in Texas last week.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Janie Hunt of Dallas was one of the missing campers from Camp Mystic in the Texas Hill Country. Her body was found and identified Saturday afternoon.
She was the great-granddaughter of late American oil baron William Herbert Hunt.
Clark Hunt’s wife, Tavia, posted a message of faith and grief on Instagram.
“Our hearts are broken by the devastation from the floods . . . and the tragic loss of so many lives – including a precious Hunt cousin, along with several friends’ little girls,” Tavia Hunt wrote.
More than 100 people have died in the flooding in Texas since Friday, including at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic.
Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter told Fox News his two grandchildren, who were Janie Hunt’s cousins, survived.
The Cowboys and Texans each contributed $500,000 for flood relief.
The Chiefs won’t be leaving Kansas City. Unless they leave Kansas City. For Kansas City.
Kansas applied a June 30, 2025 deadline to its offer to build a new stadium for the Chiefs. The Chiefs requested an extension. On Monday, Kansas provided it.
Via WIBW.com, the new deadline is June 30, 2026.
That gives the team nearly a full year to pick one state or the other. It also allows them to leverage one against the other, in search of the best possible deal.
Which makes it the best possible outcome for the Chiefs. Missouri, how badly do you want to keep the team? Kansas, how badly do you want to snatch it?
For now, Kansas wants it badly enough to move the prior deadline by an entire year, knowing full well that, in the end, the Chiefs could simply be using Kansas to get the best possible deal from Missouri.
Beyond playing one governmental partner against the other, the Chiefs at some point will have to decide between a renovated Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri, or a new, domed stadium in Kansas — which could come with hosting a Super Bowl.
There’s a good chance the team already knows its preference. There’s no reason to disclose it, however, if there’s a way to still get a better deal from one state, given the possibility that the Chiefs will go to the other state instead.
There have been several moments in recent seasons when it felt like the Chiefs were short on receiving options for quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but Mahomes does not believe that will be an issue in 2025.
The Chiefs have Rashee Rice back from last season’s knee injury and they re-signed JuJu Smith-Schuster to go with Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, Skyy Moore, and fourth-round pick Jalen Royals at wide receiver. Travis Kelce and Noah Gray return at tight end while Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, and Elijah Mitchell make up the running back group.
During an appearance on Up & Adams, Mahomes was asked if this is the deepest group of weapons he’s had around him in Kansas City. Mahomes said he believes that it is and that the team has to focus on making the most of everyone’s talents.
“I think it’s gonna come from everywhere,” Mahomes said. “Obviously, you’ve got Rashee being back. He looks great. You have Xavier Worthy, who came on so strong at the end of last year. You have Hollywood Brown healthy again. Guys everywhere. You add in Travis Kelce, a Hall of Famer. Noah Gray, a great tight end, and everybody that we’ve added to all those different rooms. We have so many weapons. Let’s go out there and just maximize it all. It’s not gonna be just one person. It’s gonna be the entire offense going out there and showcasing what the Kansas City Chiefs truly are.”
Brown and Pacheco joined Rice in missing large stretches of time with injuries last season, so the makeup of the group on July 7 isn’t guaranteed to be the same throughout the season. As long as all hands are on deck, though, there will be plenty of places for Mahomes to go with the ball as long as he has time to make the deliveries.
When he was still playing, Tom Brady defeated Patrick Mahomes in an AFC Championship Game and a Super Bowl.
But now that he’s retired, Brady has been providing some insight and advice to the Chiefs’ quarterback.
In an interview with Up & Adams that aired on Monday, Mahomes noted that he’s long had thoughts about what his legacy could be when he’s done playing. But when Brady recently noted that Mahomes has a chance to duplicate some of Brady’s historical impact on the game, that also provided a little additional motivation for the Kansas City quarterback.
“I think [legacy is] always in the back of your mind — even from the beginning of my career,” Mahomes told Kay Adams. “But at the end of the day, it’s about taking it a day at a time — a day, and a day, and a day, just continuing to do that. That’s something that I’ve been conscious of, of knowing how blessed I am to be in Kansas City, to have all these great players around me.
“And having Tom, a guy like that say that, just motivates me even more. I’ve actually talked to Tom a good amount this offseason. It’s cool that he wants to give me advice. He doesn’t have to be like that. He’s such a good dude. And I have so much respect for him, and I’ll take any advice he gives me.”
What is that advice?
“I’ve got to keep the secrets, you know?” Mahomes said, tongue in cheek. “But he always talks about being yourself. He thinks that — which I truly believe, too — is that guys can spot when you’re not authentic, and you’re not putting in the work. That’s something that he did every single day. That’s why guys respected him so much. And that’s all I’m going to do for the rest of my career, and I feel like I’ve done so far, is I’m always myself — no matter if you like me or don’t like me, you know I’m giving everything I can to win football games.”
While Mahomes and Brady can relate to a lot as quarterbacks, Brady’s status as a Raiders minority owner could raise some questions about the nature of their relationship.
Though Mahomes and the Chiefs suffered a bitter defeat in Super Bowl LIX back in February. But given the team’s success since Mahomes took over as QB1 in 2018, there’s no reason to think Kansas City won’t be a serious contender once again in 2025.
