KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs' fans love to point out how young Patrick Mahomes is despite all the things he's been able to accomplish.
But when it comes to the AFC Playoffs, Mahomes is close to being the old man of the group.
Mahomes turned 25 a week after the Chiefs' NFL Opener win over the Texans this season. But he's only five months younger than Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who comes to Arrowhead Stadium Sunday for the Cleveland/Kansas City Divisional Round game.
On the other side of the AFC bracket, both starting quarterbacks are even younger.
The Bills' Josh Allen is 24 years old. The Ravens' Lamar Jackson just turned 24 last week.
"The parity is already great and then you add in this influx of quarterbacks, I think it takes it up another notch," said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. "I'm all in. It's great competition."
The average age of the remaining AFC starting quarterbacks is 24.5
The opposite phenomenon is happening on the NFC side of things, where the Buccaneers' Tom Brady, 43, the Saints' Drew Brees, 41, the Packers' Aaron Rodgers, 37, and the Rams' Jared Goff, 26, all will be under center this weekend.
Their average age is 36.75. And if Los Angeles hadn't upset Seattle this past weekend, 32-year-old Russell Wilson would take Goff's place, which would have made their average age 38.25.
The NFC quarterbacks have a combined eight Super Bowl rings (6 Brady, 1 Rodgers, 1 Brees) and the AFC quarterbacks currently have a combined one - Mahomes.