Patrick Mahomes

Patrick Lavon Mahomes II ( mə-HOHMZ; born September 17, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). After becoming the Chiefs' starting quarterback in 2018, he led the team to seven consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances and five Super Bowl appearances, winning three. He is one of only five quarterbacks in NFL history to win three or more Super Bowls as a starter. Mahomes is widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He is often considered the best quarterback of his generation, with many outlets ranking him as the league's top player at the position.

Mahomes played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, winning the Sammy Baugh Trophy as a junior after leading the FBS in passing yards and total touchdowns. He was selected 10th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 NFL draft and spent his rookie season as the backup to Alex Smith. In 2018, after the Chiefs traded Smith, Mahomes became the starter and threw for 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He became the first quarterback to achieve over 5,000 passing yards in both college and the NFL, and joined Peyton Manning as the only players to record 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns in an NFL season. For his performance in his first season as a starter, he won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year and NFL Most Valuable Player awards, becoming one of four black quarterbacks to win the AP MVP award.

In the 2019 season, Mahomes led the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl in 50 years, winning Super Bowl LIV. Mahomes was awarded the Super Bowl MVP for his performance, becoming the youngest quarterback and the second Black quarterback to earn the honor. In 2020, Mahomes signed a 10-year contract extension worth over $450 million, making it one of the largest contracts in sports history. That season, the Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl but lost in Super Bowl LV. In the 2022 season, Mahomes led the league in passing yards and touchdowns, won NFL MVP, and earned Super Bowl MVP after winning Super Bowl LVII. He won his third Super Bowl MVP after winning Super Bowl LVIII the following year, leading the Chiefs to back-to-back titles. In the 2024 season, he led the Chiefs to their third straight Super Bowl but lost Super Bowl LIX, falling short of a historic three-peat.

Early life

Mahomes was born on September 17, 1995, in Tyler, Texas. His father is Pat Mahomes, a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, and his mother is Randi Martin. Mahomes has a younger brother, Jackson, who is a social media influencer. Mahomes's parents got divorced in 2006. His half-brother through his father, Graham Walker, plays football at Brown University. He is also the godson of former MLB pitcher LaTroy Hawkins, who was his father's teammate on the Minnesota Twins. Mahomes is biracial. His father is black and his mother is white.

Mahomes attended Whitehouse High School in Whitehouse, Texas. He played football, baseball, and basketball. Mahomes believes that training in pitching and playing basketball improved his quarterback skills.

Growing up, Mahomes was a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

In football, he had 4,619 passing yards, 50 passing touchdowns, 948 rushing yards, and 15 rushing touchdowns as a senior in high school. In baseball, he threw a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts in a game his senior year. He was named the Maxpreps Male Athlete of the Year for 2013–2014.

Mahomes was rated by Rivals.com as a three-star football recruit and was ranked as the 12th best dual-threat quarterback in his class. He received offers from Texas Tech, Rice, and Houston. He committed to Texas Tech University. Mahomes was also a top prospect for the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, but he was not expected to be selected high due to his commitment to Texas Tech. He was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 37th round of the 2014 MLB draft, but he did not sign a contract.

College career

Freshman year

Mahomes entered his freshman season at Texas Tech as a backup to Davis Webb. In the Red Raiders' fourth game, he saw his first career action against the Oklahoma State Cowboys after Webb left the game with an injury, completing two of five passes for 20 yards for one touchdown and an interception. After Webb was again injured, Mahomes started his first career game against the Texas Longhorns. He completed 13 of 21 passes for 109 yards in the 34–13 loss. Mahomes remained the starter for the season's final three games. Against the Baylor Bears, he threw for a Big 12 freshman record 598 yards with six touchdowns and one interception in the 48–46 loss. For the season, he passed for 1,547 yards, 16 touchdowns, and four interceptions in seven games.

Mahomes split time with the Texas Tech baseball team, where he was a relief pitcher.

Sophomore year

Mahomes began his sophomore season at Texas Tech as the starting quarterback. Mahomes helped lead the Red Raiders to a 7–6 season with numerous productive outings throughout the season. He recorded ten games going over 350 passing yards, including four games going over 400. He passed for at least three touchdowns in eight of the games, including a five-touchdown performance against the Iowa State Cyclones on October 10. Overall, in the 2015 season, he led the Big 12 Conference with 364 pass completions on 573 attempts for 4,653 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions.

Mahomes appeared in three games as a baseball player, recording no hits in two at bats, and three runs allowed, as a pitcher.

Junior year

Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Mahomes announced that he was leaving baseball to focus on football.

Mahomes had a very productive junior season. In the month of September alone, Mahomes passed for 18 touchdowns to three interceptions while rushing for four touchdowns. He averaged 442.5 passing yards per game that month, which included a 540-yard game against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Red Raiders' second game. Mahomes started the month of October with 504 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and three rushing touchdowns in a losing effort to the Kansas State Wildcats. On October 22, Mahomes set multiple NCAA, Big 12, and school records in a 66–59 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners at home. Mahomes broke the NCAA FBS records for single-game total offense with 819 yards. He tied the NCAA record for single game passing yards with 734. He fell one short of the record for most attempts at 88. Overall, the game set NCAA records for most combined yards of total offense with 1,708 combined passing yards, and total offense by two players (the other was Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield). The 125 combined points are the second most all time involving a ranked team. Following the Oklahoma game, the Red Raiders defeated the TCU Horned Frogs before dropping three consecutive games to finish outside bowl eligibility with a 5–7 record. In his final game with Texas Tech, Mahomes finished with 586 passing yards and six touchdowns in a 54–35 victory over the Baylor Bears.

Mahomes finished the season leading the country in yards per game (421), passing yards (5,052), total offense (5,312), points responsible for (318), and total touchdowns (53). For his performance, he was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy, given annually to the nation's top college passer, joining head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Graham Harrell, and B. J. Symons as other Red Raiders to have won the award. He was named an Academic All-America second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Mahomes announced on January 3, 2017, that he would forgo his senior year and enter the NFL draft.

College statistics

Professional career

Pre-draft

Mahomes was projected to be a first or second round pick by the majority of analysts and scouts. During the throwing drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, his passes were clocked at 60 mph, tying Logan Thomas and Bryan Bennett for the fastest pass ever recorded there. Mahomes was ranked second best quarterback by SI.com, third by ESPN, and fourth by NFLDraftScout.com. Representatives from 28 NFL teams attended his pro day at Texas Tech. He became one of the fastest rising prospects during the draft process and had 18 private workouts and official team visits, the most for any prospect in 2017. Among the coaches that he had workouts and visits with were the Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, Cincinnati Bengals quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor, and coaches from the Los Angeles Chargers, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, and Pittsburgh Steelers.

2017 season

The Kansas City Chiefs selected Mahomes in the first round (10th overall) of the 2017 NFL draft. The Chiefs, originally slated to have the 27th overall selection, traded up in the draft with the Buffalo Bills for the 10th overall selection. The Chiefs traded their first round pick and a third round pick in 2017, and the Chiefs' first round pick in the 2018 NFL draft for the selection. He was the first quarterback selected by the Chiefs in the first round since selecting Todd Blackledge seventh overall in the 1983 NFL draft. On July 20, 2017, the Chiefs signed Mahomes to a guaranteed four-year, $16.42 million contract that included a signing bonus of $10.08 million.