Patrick Mahomes breaks silence on Justin Tucker altercation after controversial Chiefs signing
Patrick Mahomes breaks silence on Justin Tucker altercation after controversial Chiefs signing
Tom MalleyThu, October 29, 2026 at 12:18 PM UTC
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Patrick Mahomes addressed his previous altercation with new Chiefs placekicker Justin Tucker on Wednesday -Credit:YouTube/KMBC 9 (YouTube/KMBC 9)
Patrick Mahomes insists there is "no beef" between him and newly signed placekicker Justin Tucker after the Kansas City Chiefs bolstered their ranks with the latter's signing this week.
Tucker, 36, is arguably the most accurate kicker in NFL history and has been signed to the Chiefs' practice squad as competition and insurance for starter Harrison Butker, who has struggled over the past year, missing a total of 15 kicks since the start of the 2025 season.
Tucker's signing, however, hasn't gone down too well with the Kansas City fanbase, given the controversial off-field issues that have kept him out of the league since the end of the 2024 campaign.
• Justin Tucker faces awkward showdown with Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes after altercation
• NFL fans furious as Chiefs sign controversial kicker to rival Harrison Butker
In May 2025, the Baltimore Ravens released Tucker over a string of controversial off-field sexual misconduct allegations, which he has vehemently denied and never faced criminal charges for, following a Baltimore Banner investigation.
The NFL did, however, hand him a 10-game suspension for violating the league's Personal Conduct Policy, but having now served that punishment as a free agent, Tucker is immediately eligible for selection, leading the Chiefs to pounce while they can.
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Another controversy surrounding the signing is that Tucker previously had a run-in with current Chiefs players Mahomes and Travis Kelce ahead of the 2024 AFC Championship Game between Kansas City and Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium.
During warmups, Tucker had refused to move his equipment out of Mahomes' way, leading the Chiefs quarterback to toss his kicking tee and Kelce to aggressively punt Tucker's footballs and helmet aside.
The incident went viral, yet when reporters asked about it this week, Mahomes downplayed any beef between himself and Tucker, claiming it was entirely behind them.
"We haven't had a lot of conversations because he's obviously on the Ravens and I was on the Chiefs," Mahomes said with a wry smirk. "But it wasn't like we ever had any beef or anything like that. I think at that moment it was just competitors being competitors.
"It was a big moment for everybody's career, and you're playing the AFC Championship Game. And he's been a big, big-time kicker for a long time. Me and Trav were obviously competing, and we wanted to go out there and win. And that stuff happened.
Tucker hasn't played in the NFL since the 2024 campaign, following a 10-game suspension for violating the league's Personal Conduct Policy in May 2025 -Credit:Getty
"But then you move on from that. I mean, at the end of the day, we're just playing a game, and you want to compete, and you want to win. But it wasn't like we had some, like, long-standing beef that kind of carried over after the game.
"It's kind of, we won that game, and then I was on to the Super Bowl. So there's nothing hostile, I guess you would say, moving forward from that."
Mahomes went on to express trust in general manager Brett Veach to bring in great players, while emphasizing that his own focus remains entirely on cleaning up the team's mistakes, following Sunday's 20-3 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks, ahead of their upcoming matchup with the Denver Broncos.
Source: “AOL Sports”
