Before they were teammates on the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Tucker went viral for butting heads ahead of the AFC championship game in 2024. They've since let bygones be bygones.
Back in January 2024, Mahomes and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce took umbrage with where Tucker – then with the Baltimore Ravens – had decided to do his pregame kicking warmups. After the Chiefs signed Tucker on Wednesday, Oct. 28, Mahomes told reporters that he had moved on from the incident.
"We haven't had a lot of conversations ... but it wasn't like we ever had any beef or anything like that," Mahomes said. "I think at that moment, it was just competitors being competitors."
Mahomes said he understood that Tucker – "a big-time kicker for a long
time" – was also trying to compete and help the Ravens earn a Super Bowl appearance at the time.
"That stuff happened, but then you move on from that. At the end of the day we're just playing a game, and you want to compete and you want to win, but it wasn't like we had some longstanding beef that carried over after that game."
According to Kelce at the time, Tucker had broken an "unwritten rule" of setting up his kicking materials – a tee and kicking balls – in the Chiefs' designated area.
The Chiefs' stars responded in kind. Kelce threw Tucker's helmet and kicking balls to the side, and Mahomes kicked Tucker's tee away while progressing through his throwing warmup routine.
The Chiefs went on to win that AFC championship game and the Super Bowl that followed.
After the AFC championship game, Tucker said he saw all of the back-and-forth as "gamesmanship ... But it seemed to be taken a little more seriously.
"I'm totally willing to let it all go."
Tucker played one more season with the Ravens before the team released him in May 2025 amid an NFL investigation into accusations from 16 massage therapists of inappropriate sexual behavior. In June 2025, the league suspended Tucker 10 games to begin the season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.
The placekicker denied the allegations but did not appeal the NFL's decision. He served his suspension last year without an active contract.
Patrick Mahomes reacts to Justin Tucker signing
Mahomes did not have an outsized reaction to the Chiefs' decision to sign the former Ravens kicker, saying the regularity of roster churn has numbed him to players additions.
"I try not to get too high or too low on anything," Mahomes said. "But I know (Chiefs GM Brett) Veach and them do a great job of bringing great players in, but for me it's about the Denver Broncos and moving on and continuing to get better. We have a lot of stuff that we have to clean up."
The Chiefs will play their second game against the Broncos this year on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 4:25 p.m. ET.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Patrick Mahomes downplays past beef after Chiefs sign kicker Justin Tucker
