WATCH: Willie Gay runs shirtless on streets during Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade
Willie Gay and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs have not stopped celebrating since Sunday night after their second Super Bowl victory in two years. While much of the NFL fanbase is eager to turn the page to next season, the team is prying the page open with both hands. Just a few days after the Big Game, the team is holding its parade through the streets of Kansas City.
Everyone celebrates differently, but Chiefs player Willie Gay took things up to a different level on Wednesday to the amusement of the NFL. Taking to Twitter/X, the league's social media team posted a video recorded of Gay running down the middle of the street shirtless and euphoric on a sunny 54-degree day while crowds looked on.
In the 15-second clip, Gay ran down the street, stopped in the closed-down intersection and pumped up the crowd to the left and right, wearing a pair of black pants and a chain around his neck.
Willie Gay's Kansas City Chiefs embark on shortest offseason in 2024
One underrated aspect of the design of the NFL is how the league is structured to give less fortunate teams a leg up. Most know of the pick system allowing teams with the worst winning percentage to get the best picks in the following NFL Draft. However, another advantage given to teams who missed the playoffs and fell earlier in the postseason is time.
The Kansas City Chiefs will have the longest work season of any other team due to remaining alive in the postseason longer than anyone. The 49ers and Chiefs may have played the same number of games, but the 49ers likely won't spend any extra time celebrating the season at team-sponsored events than the Chiefs. As such, every other team is expected to have a longer offseason than Kansas City.
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Willie Gay and the rest of the roster will have about one month less rest than teams that missed the playoffs and two weeks less than every other team sans the 49ers.
At the time of writing, the countdown to the 2024 NFL season sits just short of seven months away. Some teams will get eight months of rest while others will get seven and a half months. Rashee Rice's Chiefs will have less than seven months to get ready.
Could back-to-back shortened offseasons cause a stumble for the team in 2024?