Mahomes and Kelce are known to be very close friends and the former first met Swift after a match against the Chicago Bears. They also met very briefly at the 2019 NFL Draft in Nashville.

I’ve met a lot of famous people now in my life,” said Mahomes to Time. “Taylor’s probably the most down-to-earth person that’s been on that stage for that long. She’s never not working. Even when she’s taking her downtime, she’s working on something.

“Shooting a music video or singing a song or writing a song. You can see it by how she talks. Even when she’s talking about football, when she’s learning it, you can see her business mind putting it together. It’s almost like she’s trying to become a coach. ‘Why can’t you try this, this, and this?’ She’s asking the right questions.”

The interest in the Chiefs as a team rocketed when news of Swift’s relationship with Kelce emerged. Mahomes said that they ‘went from a nationwide team that was kind of global to a full global worldwide team. That came from Taylor’s fanbase.’ Then the accusations came that the publicity was a distraction, causing some poor results in late November and December.

“We just embraced it,” Mahomes says. “We like having that visibility. At the end of the day, football has always been this bruising sport. We want to make it fun, where kids grow up and play football and show their personality and be who they are. This year really magnified that.”