Patrick Mahomes laments losing Orlando Brown Jr. to the Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals’ biggest offseason addition came from its new bitter rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, as the team inked left tackle Orlando Brown Jr to a four-year $64 million deal.

Not only does the addition help solidify the Bengals’ offensive line and better protect Joe Burrow’s blind side, but it takes away a major piece of the Chiefs offensive line that was outstanding during Kansas City’s Super Bowl championship last season.

“Yeah, it’s tough,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of losing Brown to the Bengals, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “I still talk to Orlando. We had a friendship off the field just as much as on the field. You understand how great of a player he is.

“He makes Cincinnati an even better football team, so that stinks for us, but at the same time, I’m happy for him that he got to a good place where he was able to get a good contract that he deserved and everything like that. We’ll still have that friendship, but he’s a competitor like me, so we’re going to be wanting to be able to brag about who wins that football game.”

The Chiefs and Bengals have faced off in each of the last two AFC Championship Games, with the Bengals winning in January of 2022, and the Chiefs winning last season.

With star quarterbacks Burrow and Mahomes set to lead the two franchises for years to come, the two may become yearly postseason foes in a similar fashion to Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts and Broncos and Tom Brady’s New England Patriots during the 2000s and early 2010s.