Patrick Mahomes

• 1. Introduction

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  Patrick Mahomes stood in the huddle of the Kansas City Chiefs with a little over seven minutes left in Super Bowl LIV. His team trailed the San Francisco 49ers 20-10. A challenge by San Francisco had just erased a completed catch, leaving the Chiefs facing third down with 15 yards to go from their own 35-yard line. Mahomes asked his coaches for a play called Jet Chip Wasp. He then threw a deep pass to Tyreek Hill that covered 44 yards and changed the mood of the game. Mahomes was born in 1995, and he is now one of the most decorated quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League. He has won three Super Bowls as a starter, and he has also lost two. How did a teenager who was just as promising on a pitcher's mound end up redefining the quarterback position for a generation of scouts? What did it take for him to rise so quickly, and what happens when the winning finally slows?

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• 2. Two Sports, Then One

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  Tyler, Texas, is where Mahomes was born on the 17th of September 1995, to a father who pitched in Major League Baseball and a mother named Randi Martin. His father, Pat Mahomes, shared a clubhouse on the Minnesota Twins with LaTroy Hawkins, who became Patrick's godfather. Patrick grew up a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. At Whitehouse High School, in Whitehouse, Texas, he played football, baseball, and basketball. He later credited pitching and basketball with sharpening his quarterback skills.

  His senior year was the kind that gets a teenager noticed. On the football field he threw for 4,619 yards and 50 touchdowns, and he ran for 948 yards and 15 more scores. On the baseball diamond he pitched a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts. Maxpreps named him its Male Athlete of the Year for 2013-14. Recruiting service Rivals.com still rated him only a three-star prospect, the 12th best dual-threat quarterback in his class. Offers came from Texas Tech, Rice, and Houston, and he committed to Texas Tech.

  Baseball scouts were watching too. The Detroit Tigers picked him in the 37th round of the 2014 draft. Mahomes did not sign, because he had already chosen Texas Tech.

  At Texas Tech he began his freshman season behind Davis Webb. Injuries to Webb opened the door. In his fourth game he came off the bench against Oklahoma State, and soon he was starting. Against Baylor he passed for 598 yards, a Big 12 freshman record, although the Red Raiders lost 48-46. He also pitched in relief for the baseball team that spring.

  In 2015 he led the Big 12 with 4,653 passing yards and 36 touchdowns. He appeared in just three baseball games, and in the 2016 offseason he announced that he was giving up baseball to focus on football. That decision paid off in the 2016 season, which included a 540-yard game against Arizona State and a 504-yard game against Kansas State.

  The afternoon of the 22nd of October 2016 produced his wildest numbers. Texas Tech lost 66-59 to Oklahoma, yet Mahomes set an FBS record with 819 yards of total offense. He tied the FBS single-game passing record with 734 yards. He finished one pass short of the attempts record, at 88. Both teams combined for 125 points and 1,708 passing yards, another NCAA record. Across the season he led the country with 5,052 passing yards and 53 total touchdowns. That earned him the Sammy Baugh Trophy, an award Kliff Kingsbury had also won as a Red Raider. On the 3rd of January 2017, he announced that he would skip his senior year.

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• 3. Waiting Behind Smith

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  Sixty miles per hour was the speed of Mahomes's fastest throws at the NFL Scouting Combine, which tied the fastest pass ever clocked there. Analysts expected a first or second round pick. Representatives from 28 NFL teams attended his pro day, and he completed 18 private workouts and team visits, the most of any prospect that year. Coaches who met him included Bruce Arians of the Cardinals and Sean Payton of the Saints.

  Kansas City wanted him enough to move. The Chiefs held the 27th pick in the 2017 draft, then traded with the Buffalo Bills to climb to 10th. The price was their 2017 first-round pick, a 2017 third-round pick, and their 2018 first-round pick. No Chiefs quarterback had gone in the first round since Todd Blackledge went seventh overall in 1983. On the 20th of July 2017, Mahomes signed a guaranteed four-year contract worth $16.42 million, including a $10.08 million signing bonus.

  His rookie year was spent watching Alex Smith. Only in the final week, with a playoff spot already secured, did the Chiefs announce on the 27th of December that Smith would rest. Mahomes made his first start on the 31st of December against the Denver Broncos. He completed 22 of 35 passes for 284 yards, and Kansas City won 27-24.

  The next month, on the 30th of January 2018, the Chiefs agreed to trade Smith to Washington. Mahomes was now the starter. In his first game he threw four touchdowns in a 38-28 win over the Chargers, including a 58-yard pass to Hill for his first career touchdown. A week later he threw six touchdowns against the Steelers in a 42-37 victory. That broke the league record for touchdown passes in a quarterback's first three career games, and it also broke the record for the first two weeks of any season.

  More peaks and valleys followed. A 478-yard, six-touchdown night against the Rams ended in a 54-51 loss, the first time an NFL team scored 50 points and lost. In the final week he threw an 89-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson. That made him the second quarterback after Peyton Manning to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in one season. His final totals were 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He became the first quarterback to reach 5,000 passing yards in both college and the NFL.

  He also became the first Chiefs player to be named NFL Most Valuable Player. The Chiefs finished 12-4, then beat the Colts for their first home playoff win since the 1993 season. The next week, at Arrowhead Stadium, they lost the AFC Championship to the Patriots in overtime, 37-31.

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• 4. Chasing Rings

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  A 24-0 hole in the Divisional Round against the Houston Texans, early in the second quarter, looked like the end of the 2019 season. Instead the Chiefs outscored Houston 51-7 the rest of the way, finishing 51-31, and Mahomes threw for 321 yards and five touchdowns. A week later he led them back from 17-7 against the Titans for a 35-24 win. That sent Kansas City to its first Super Bowl since Super Bowl IV, played in 1970.

  The season had its bruises. Mahomes sprained an ankle in the opener and dislocated his patella in week 7 against Denver. An MRI the next day showed no major structural damage, and he returned two weeks later with 446 passing yards. In a December win over the Chicago Bears, he counted to ten on his fingers. It was a jab at the Bears, who could have drafted him second overall in 2017 but picked Mitchell Trubisky.

  After the famous third-down throw to Hill in Super Bowl LIV, the Chiefs went on a 21-0 run and won 31-20, their first championship in 50 years. Mahomes threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions, and he ran for a touchdown. As Super Bowl MVP he became the youngest quarterback ever to win the award. He was also the first player to win both an NFL MVP and a Super Bowl title before turning 25. He was the third Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, after Doug Williams and Russell Wilson.

  Super Bowl LV in the 2020 season was a different story. Tampa Bay used two deep safeties to take away Mahomes's targets, and the Chiefs' injury-ravaged offensive line collapsed. He was pressured on a Super Bowl record 29 of 56 dropbacks. One sidearm throw while being tripped by William Gholston hit receiver Darrel Williams in the facemask and fell incomplete. The Chiefs lost 31-9 and failed to score a touchdown. Three days later Mahomes had surgery for a turf toe injury suffered against the Browns in the Divisional Round, where a concussion had also knocked him out of the game. Backup Chad Henne closed out that win, 22-17.

  The 2021 season started badly by his standards. A 36-35 loss to the Ravens was his first September defeat. By week 7 he had thrown an interception in six straight games, a career worst, and the Titans beat the Chiefs 27-3. He ended the regular season with 4,839 yards, 37 touchdowns, and a career-high 13 interceptions.

  The playoffs brought him back. Against the Steelers he threw for 404 yards, a franchise playoff record. Then came the Divisional Round against Buffalo, a 42-36 overtime win that many called one of the greatest playoff games ever. Andy Reid told Mahomes in the final seconds of regulation to be "The Grim Reaper". Mahomes threw for 177 yards in overtime alone. The run ended a week later when the Bengals won the AFC Championship in overtime, 27-24.

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• 5. Repeat and Rupture

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  Super Bowl LVII was played on a bad ankle. In the 2022 regular season Mahomes had thrown for a franchise-record 5,250 yards. His 5,608 total yards, passing and rushing combined, set an NFL single-season record. He needed only his 71st career start to break the record for passing yards through a quarterback's first 75 starts. In the Divisional Round against Jacksonville, a high ankle sprain sidelined him for much of the first half, and he re-aggravated it before halftime against Philadelphia. The Chiefs trailed by 10 at the break. Mahomes stayed in the game, and Kansas City scored a touchdown on each of its first three drives of the second half. The Chiefs won 38-35, and he took Super Bowl MVP for the second time. The season also brought a second league MVP. Only Tom Brady and Joe Montana had won multiple regular-season and Super Bowl MVPs before him.

  The next season was messier. In week 4 of 2023 he threw his 200th career touchdown in just his 84th start, the fastest ever. Yet by several measures it was his weakest season so far. His passer rating was 92.6, and his receivers led the league in drops going into the last week. He was fined $50,000 for loudly criticizing the officials after a 20-17 loss to the Bills. A touchdown by Kadarius Toney had been called back for offsides.

  The playoffs turned his mood around. The Chiefs beat Miami in subzero temperatures, then won 27-24 in Buffalo in Mahomes's first road playoff game. After a win at Baltimore, he and Travis Kelce held the record for most playoff touchdowns by a quarterback and receiver duo, at 16. In Super Bowl LVIII, against the 49ers, Mahomes threw for 333 yards and the game-winning touchdown to Mecole Hardman in overtime. The score was 25-22 in only the second Super Bowl to go beyond regulation. It was the first repeat champion in nineteen years, and it gave Mahomes his third Super Bowl MVP.

  A third straight title seemed possible, and in the 2024 season Kansas City opened 9-0 before finally losing to Buffalo. They finished with a franchise-record 15 regular-season wins. Mahomes reached 30,000 career passing yards in 103 games, faster than anyone. Yet he finished with 3,928 yards, his first starting season below 4,000, and no Pro Bowl selection. The AFC title game against the Bills ended 32-29, with two rushing scores from Mahomes.

  The 2025 season ended in a way Mahomes had never experienced. On the 14th of December 2025, a loss to the Chargers eliminated the Chiefs from the playoffs, the first time his career had no postseason. Late in that game he tore his ACL, and the next day he had surgery to repair that ligament and his LCL.

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• 6. The Way He Plays

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  Satchel Paige is the name Mahomes gave when asked where his unorthodox style comes from. Before Super Bowl LVII, the first Super Bowl with two Black starting quarterbacks, he said that Negro league baseball players inspired his creative approach. Paige had also inspired his father's style on the mound.

  The things that set Mahomes apart are physical and instinctive. He throws with the arm strength of a former pitcher, and he credits baseball for that. He is known for no-look passes and behind-the-back tosses. FiveThirtyEight called his ability to read the timing of his receivers uncanny. He can also use his athleticism to fool defenders and free up targets. Some observers have called him the most talented player in the NFL, even though he is a pass-first quarterback.

  Defensive coordinators say his improvisation is among his best weapons. That has changed the way teams scout. Since his breakout 2018 season, general managers and scouts have gone looking for prospects who can create when a designed play breaks down. Kyler Murray and Bryce Young, both number one overall picks, are cited as examples. Both were praised highly despite lacking the traditional size teams once demanded at quarterback.

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• 7. Half a Billion Dollars

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  The 6th of July 2020 produced a number that startled the sports world. Mahomes signed a ten-year extension worth $477 million, with another $26 million in potential bonuses, for a total of $503 million through the 2031 season. It surpassed the 12-year, $426.5 million deal of baseball's Mike Trout. Mahomes became the first professional athlete with a half-billion-dollar contract. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Shohei Ohtani, and Juan Soto have since passed that figure. In 2023 the Chiefs reworked the deal again to give him $210.6 million between 2023 and 2026, the most any NFL player had received over four seasons.

  Endorsements arrived quickly after his 2018 MVP year. The first was with Hunt's, after he said how much he loved ketchup. Oakley, Essentia Water, Hy-Vee, State Farm, DirecTV, Adidas, and Head & Shoulders followed. Helzberg Diamonds released a necklace line with his logo. He was the Madden NFL 20 cover athlete, the first Chiefs player so honored. He shared the cover of Madden NFL 22 with Tom Brady, and the pair became the first to appear on it twice. In 2020 he signed with BioSteel and became an equity partner. His Adidas signature shoe, the Mahomes 1 Impact FLX, came out on the 23rd of August 2021. A Coors Light commercial in 2022 featured a Coors flashlight in place of beer, since NFL rules ban players from endorsing alcohol. T-Mobile and Prime followed in 2023.

  His investments are broad. In 2020 he became a minority stakeholder in the Kansas City Royals. In 2021 he joined the ownership of Sporting Kansas City. Two years later he joined the ownership of the NWSL's Kansas City Current, where his wife was already a co-owner. He and Kelce also invested in the Alpine Formula One team. A future pickleball team in Miami counts Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios, and Rich Paul among its owners.

  His most down-to-earth venture is fast food. In 2021 he joined a group bringing Whataburger to Missouri and Kansas. As of June 2024, the group, called KMO Burgers, ran 11 of the 14 restaurants in the Kansas City area. In 2025 Mahomes and Kelce opened a steakhouse called 1587 Prime at the Loews Hotel Kansas City. In January 2026, he launched a golf apparel line with Adidas.

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• 8. Faith, Family, and Causes

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  the 1st of September 2020, was the day Mahomes received his Super Bowl LIV ring. It was also the day he proposed to Brittany Matthews, his high school sweetheart, in a suite at Arrowhead Stadium. Matthews had a short professional soccer career with the Icelandic club UMF Afturelding, then became a certified personal trainer. She is a co-owner of the Kansas City Current. The couple married on the 12th of March 2022 and have three children, two daughters and a son.

  Mahomes is an evangelical Christian. His mother says he found his faith in middle school through a church youth group. Before every game, he said, he walks the field and prays at the goalpost. In his words: "Faith is huge for me... Before every game, I walk the field and I do a prayer at the goalpost. I just thank God for those opportunities and I thank God for letting me be on a stage where I can glorify Him."

  His public role extended beyond football in 2020. After the murder of George Floyd, Mahomes and teammate Tyrann Mathieu joined other NFL players in a video urging the league to condemn police brutality and violence against Black people. The video also called on the NFL to admit it was wrong to silence Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid for protesting during the national anthem. Mahomes and Mathieu then started a voter registration project in Kansas City aimed at the 2020 presidential election. He worked with the Chiefs to encourage players to vote and joined LeBron James's Rock the Vote effort. Sports Illustrated named him one of its Sportspeople of the Year for this work.

  In April 2019 he established a nonprofit, the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation, which says it is dedicated to improving the lives of children. In 2024 he donated $5 million to Texas Tech for stadium and football center projects. Time put him on its 100 Most Influential People list in 2020, 2023, and 2024.

  He has also opened his world to cameras. Netflix and NFL Films followed him, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota through the 2022 season for the series Quarterback, which premiered on the 12th of July 2023. His new production company, 2PM Productions, helped make it. In the offseason he plays golf, including the American Century Championship since 2020. In 2023 he and Kelce beat Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in The Match, after he and Josh Allen had lost to Brady and Aaron Rodgers the year before. His next chapter begins with a long recovery from the ACL and LCL surgery.

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