Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are becoming good friends off the field

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will always have historical ties.

In 2017, the Bills traded the 10th overall pick of the NFL Draft to the Chiefs so they could bring Mahomes to Kansas City. You could call that a misjudgment — but later that day, the Bills acquired All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White with the Chiefs’ 27th pick. A year later, parlayed Kansas City’s 22nd selection into acquiring two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Tremaine Edwards at 16. Allen had been taken nine spots earlier.

More recently, though, Mahomes and Allen will be forever tied by their performances in 2021’s Divisional round playoff game in Kansas City, which is already being heralded as one of the greatest games in NFL history. In the last two minutes of regulation, the two quarterbacks combined for three touchdown passes that took the lead for their respective teams. Then with 13 seconds left, Mahomes cooly drive for 44 yards in three plays, setting up a 49-yard Harrison Butker field goal that put the game into overtime.

After winning the overtime coin toss, the Chiefs drove 75 yards to win with an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce.

It would be reasonable to expect that the two men would be bitter rivals — and in a manner of speaking, they are. But off the field, they are becoming friends.

Appearing on “The Steam Room” podcast with Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson on Tuesday, the Bills’ quarterback spoke about their developing friendship.

“We were both at Miami this weekend at F1, we were kind of texting to see if we were there,” he said. “Saturday night he FaceTimes me — and he’s like, ‘Come here.’ Sure enough, we hung out for an hour-and-a-half, two hours just kind of hanging around talking, having a good time.”

By “F1”, Allen was referring to the Formula 1 Grand Prix event in South Florida over the weekend — the event where Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle mistook former Duke basketball player Paolo Banchero for Mahomes.

“I’ve spent a couple times around Patrick,” continued Allen, “but every time I’m around him he’s just a great dude, he’s a great personality, he’s fun to be around. Obviously, all the respect that I have for him on the field. I think it’s a different vibe from what people think.”

“When we step on that field, we’re supposed to be competitors — it’s the old mantra of you’ve got to hate your enemy, you know — but I would say we have a really good relationship, especially for the type of games that we tend to play in.

“He’s awesome. He really is. Love being around him.”

The two will soon have more quality time together. As we reported in mid-April, Mahomes and Allen will team up for “The Match” — a celebrity golf event in which the two will face off against a team consisting of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. The event will be carried on the TNT cable network beginning at 5:30 p.m. Arrowhead Time on Wednesday, June 1.