Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce questioned as Chiefs regret looms after coveted free agent gets away

Given the amount of success that the Kansas City Chiefs have enjoyed over the past half-decade, it would be easy to assume that the team led by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce has seen all kinds of “bandwagon hoppers” joining in on the championship-caliber fun in KC. After all, Mahomes and Kelce have become superstars off the field as well as on it, and the Chiefs are the NFL‘s newest dynasty with three Super Bowl wins since 2019.

But as Kansas City gears up for its season opener on Thursday night, it’s clear that the perception of the Chiefs as everything that is right with football is more than a little off-base. A coveted free agent that the franchise wanted to sign this spring revealed as much in a shocking recent interview.

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Josh Jacobs did not want to play for the Chiefs

Former NFL rushing champion and longtime Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs signed a free-agent deal with the up-and-coming Green Bay Packers this offseason…but in another world, Jacobs is suiting up for the Chiefs in 2024, as the franchise pushed hard to sign the former All-Pro earlier this year.

“They were trying to get me, hard,” Jacobs said in an interview on NFL Network. “But there was no way I was going there.”

The Raiders and the Chiefs have been fierce rivals for six decades — and over his five seasons in Oakland and then Las Vegas, Jacobs too grew to loathe the franchise that is quickly marking an era in NFL history.

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“I feel like once you are rivals with somebody, you have a genuine hate for them. I couldn’t see myself in that color,” Jacobs said of playing in Kansas City. “And besides, I never wanted to be the guy that joined the dominant team. I want to be the guy that beats the dominant team.”

Jacobs’ slight will only fuel the competitive fire that defines Mahomes and Kelce, who are not slated to play the Packers this season and would not encounter their former AFC West foe until Super Bowl LIX in February — assuming both teams make it there.