Patrick Mahomes has inspired a wave of envy around the NFL. Teams that were relieved about not having Tom Brady in the way of their Super Bowl aspirations anymore were in for a rude awakening when Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to a title in his second full season as their starting quarterback — and since then, he has added two more Super Bowls to their growing trophy cabinet.

Mahomes has made particularly strong enemies out of AFC rivals like the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. Kansas City has knocked Buffalo out of the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, and in the 2022/23 playoffs, Mahomes engineered a game-winning drive to deny Cincinnati a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance. That loss still stings in Cincy, and one of the Bengals‘ stars has recently revealed just how deep the Chiefs hate runs.

Ja’Marr Chase can’t bring himself to say “Mahomes”

Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase recently spoke to the NFL as part of the league’s annual ranking of its top 100 players. “NFL 100” relies on player interviews about their peers — but Chase couldn’t even bring himself to utter the name “Patrick Mahomes,” ahead of his likely inclusion atop the NFL 100 list.

“He’s amazing,” Chase said about Mahomes. “He’s good. Not gonna lie. I’m salty, though. I’m a little salty.”

Instead, Chase shouted out teammate Joe Burrow as the top quarterback in the NFL — even after a year in which Burrow battled through injury before suffering a season-ending wrist injury in November. Burrow and Chase nearly delivered a maiden Super Bowl to Cincinnati three years ago — and after missing the playoffs entirely in 2023, motivation is higher than ever as the Bengals seek to knock the Chiefs off their perch following several close calls in the regular season and in the playoffs.