Mastermind: What Patrick Mahomes admires about Taylor SwiftMastermind: What Patrick Mahomes admires about Taylor Swift

Joshua Kissi for TIME

As a result of Taylor Swift‘s romance with Travis Kelce, she’s become friendly with the Kansas City Chiefs roster — especially quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany. In his new profile for TIME‘s 100 Most Influential People, Mahomes says he admires Taylor not only for her work ethic, but because she acts like a regular person, not the most famous pop star in the world.

The Super Bowl champ says when Travis introduced him to Taylor after the Chiefs played the Bears in September, she actually remembered meeting him briefly back in 2019. “I’ve met a lot of famous people now in my life,” says Mahomes. “Taylor’s probably the most down-to-earth person that’s been on that stage for that long.”

“She’s never not working,” he adds. “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.”

Maybe Taylor can share ideas for some plays next season?

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