Patrick Mahomes was missing something when he showed up for Kansas City’s pre-draft media availability. Gone was his usual mohawk-style hair style, replaced with a tighter cut all round.

The quarterback, possibly the NFL’s most-recognisable player in the current era, admitted that he had been thinking about chopping his locks for a while, but losing in Super Bowl LIX cemented the deal.

“It was kind of one of those superstitions, I kept winning the Super Bowl — which is a good thing — but I didn’t want to cut the hair while I was doing it,” he explained. “I told everybody during the season that, if we win three in a row or if we lose, I’m getting a haircut. Like, that’s enough! I’ve looked at some videos from last year and I can’t believe all you guys let me keep that nappy hair for so long. I look way better now with the short hair, so I’ll be keeping this going forward.”

Having seen their prized asset pummelled by the Philadelphia Eagles on the sport’s biggest stage back in February, the Chiefs have made moves to shore up their offensive line — much as they did after their Super Bowl defeat to Tampa Bay in 2021 — and are expected to add further protection for Mahomes in this weekend’s NFL Draft. Mahomes, meanwhile, refused to lay blame at the feet of his linemen, but said he was looking forward to what changes the new season brings.

“It was guys that were battling, that were trying to find their spot in the NFL to compete and be great,” he reasoned. “I thought guys did good jobs. Obviously, the Super Bowl left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth, but I thought, throughout the season, guys stepped up and made big plays happen and protected when they needed to protect.

“I think this year is just [about] trying to solidify the group. Bringing in a guy like Jaylon Moore, a guy that’s played some snaps [and] learned under [49ers OT] Trent Williams, is someone that we have big expectations for. You get a core group of guys that you want to solidify — and you never can account for injuries and stuff like that — but hopefully a group that will be together throughout the entire year. When you look at the great offensive lines, a lot of times it’s a unit, it’s everybody, it’s not just one guy here or there. We’re excited for it, there will be healthy competition in camp, but we’ll find the five right guys that we’ll go with, and we’ll have guys behind them ready to go as well.”

Although there was no Super Bowl parade in Kansas City this year, Mahomes unsurprisingly insists that missing out on a fourth Lombardi will only spur him to work harder through the offseason.

“I mean, I’m pretty motivated anyways but I think, when you get some of those tiring sets or tiring reps in the workout, you have something in the back of your mind that you’re kind of pushing towards,” he explained. “You have that bad taste in your mouth from the last time you stepped on the football field and you kind of have to hear about it all offseason, so it gives you the push to go out there and be better and show what we’re really about.”