A sterling rookie season has Kansas City Chiefs star center Creed Humphrey riding high on his team’s eight-game winning streak, with Pro Bowl alternate honors in just his first year in the league. Brought in as part of general manager Brett Veach’s strategy to solidify the offensive line for MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Humphrey has played a key role in providing push up-front for the Chiefs through 16 games, while keeping his signal-caller clean in the vast majority of his snaps.
As difficult as it must be to make such an outsized impact on an established offense so early in his career, Humphrey has made the impossible seem effortless. He has developed into one of the most important pieces on Kansas City’s offense in a short time, and the obvious chemistry built between both Humphrey and his quarterback has been no small factor in the team’s turnaround.
He spoke to reporters following Friday’s practice about what he sees as the common bond between the offensive personnel the Chiefs are hosting this year, and Humphrey told the media that, for him, it all boils down to their competitive edge. Asked about Mahomes in particular, Humphrey said that the quarterback is no exception to the rule. In fact, Mahomes drives a lot of the confidence Kansas City has utilized to go on their extended win streak.
“He’s just a competitive guy,” He explained of Mahomes. “Everyone in the room is a competitive guy so everybody really acts the same. We’re all competitors and we all want to win. Just him pointing at the linemen during that play (in Week 16), just kind of shows the chemistry that we’re building and continuing to build, so it’s exciting. We’re having a special time right now with the long win streak and everyone is pumped up about it. Now, it’s just continuing that week in and week out continuing to build on what we’ve been doing.”
Pieces are starting to fit into place for the Chiefs heading into the penultimate matchup of the 2021 NFL season. With a run to the Super Bowl closer on the horizon by the day, Kansas City will need to harness all of the mojo they can to carry them to just a few more victories. With Humphrey in the middle of everything, the offense is in good hands as every looming matchup brings new challenges for the unit to overcome as a complete team.