Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is probably going to have to get used to this.
As the face of the National Football League and the best young quarterback in the business, an entire generation of young football players are going to be idolizing Mahomes throughout their childhood. In many instances, it will even mean mimicking him—on and off the field.
Current NFL prospects and emerging college stars are already being hailed as “the next Mahomes” despite the real deal only being 25 years of age (as of press time). Yet even beyond that, young kids are already donning some sort of mantle placed upon them related to Mahomes, including a young “sensation” out of the state of Texas named Santi Cruz.
Cruz has already been turning heads for his exemplary play on the field even as a player so young, but the comparisons have already given him a “mini-Mahomes” vibe. Both are from Texas, which helps Cruz in this instance. However, Cruz also has the look down with the hair, the swagger, the nickname (of “Showtime”), and the Oakley sunglasses in play.
For some on-field credibility, the kid is an impressive athlete. Check out this clip of highlights:
(As a personal note, it’s super weird to me that there are already rankings for players his age or even this sort of pressure, but Texas does things differently and football is one of them. To each his own, I suppose.)
Back in the spring, Cruz was able to meet his hero. Mahomes spent some time with Cruz and signed some merchandise, gave him advice, and even threw a football back and forth. He also complimented his hair.
However, Cruz clearly isn’t content just to meet his hero and hold onto those memories. It seems he shares Mahomes’ competitive spirit and he wants to up the ante. Check out the challenged issue on Friday.
https://twitter.com/WhistleSports/status/1436336158275944448
In case you can’t play the video, he says, “If I played Patrick Mahomes in these challenges, I think I could compete with him and make him work for it. Patrick, let me know if the challenge is accepted. I’m coming for you.”
Here’s what we know: Mahomes will be into his late-thirties by the time Santi Cruz could become an NFL Draft pick. It’s not completely outside the realm of possibility that the pair could square off someday, or maybe we’re looking at the next generation of Chiefs quarterbacks here—some eventual torch-passing that will one day seem outrageous that it started so early.
For now, we’re just curious how much ketchup Santi uses on a regular basis.