Patrick Mahomes says he would step away from football for his family

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes put family above football in a recent cover story in “Time” magazine. He said he will keep playing in the NFL as long as it doesn’t “take away from my family time” with his two kids and wife, Brittany.

The magazine named Mahomes one of 2024’s “World’s Most Influential People,” and he opened up about his career and being a father to daughter Sterling, 3, and son Bronze, 1.

“I’ve looked, if I played until Tom [Brady]’s age (45), my daughter would be 19, 20 years old,” Mahomes said. “That would mean missing plenty of youth sporting events and other commitments. I would love to play that long. At the same time, I want to be there for my daughter. If I can do that, I’ll continue to play. But if I feel like it’s taking away from my family time, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to go.”

At one point in the story, Mahomes talked about his Super Bowl victories and disputed that he’s even close to being like Brady. “You have to build a consistency of a career,” he said. “You see that in any sport. I’ve had a great run. I think I’ve done a great job so far. But it’s hard to take away from what Tom did for so long, what Peyton Manning did or Aaron Rodgers.

“There are so many guys, they were at such a high level for such a long time. In order to be in that conversation, you have to do that on a year-to-year basis. You can’t take it for granted that you did it the year before. That’s something I’ll talk about when I’m done playing. Then people can make those decisions.”

Brittany and Patrick met in high school in Texas. They welcomed their daughter in 2021, and the couple finally tied the knot in 2022. In 2022, they shared news that they were expecting again and welcomed their son later that year.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice