There are not very many quarterbacks who can claim that they were the best ever to touch a football. In fact, there is only one consensus person that comes to mind whenever those conversations come up. However, there is one person who is up and coming that can challenge Tom Brady’s status. He comes from the Kansas City Chiefs system and goes by the name of Patrick Mahomes. How did this wunderkind from Texas become one of the best to ever do it? Let’s find out.

A long lineage of athleticism

It’s very easy to absorb wisdom once a child is surrounded by extremely talented players. After all, it does take a village to raise an up-and-coming legend. Patrick is the son of Pat Mahomes Sr., who is a former pitcher in the MLB, and Randi Martin. The people around him? Well, he grew up around a solid core of Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets uncles because of his dad. In fact, LaTroy Hawkins even became his godfather.

It was clear that he was in a baseball household but football and basketball were lingering thoughts in the back of his head too. He played those three sports while studying in the Whitehouse High School in Texas. A lot of his learned skills from these varying sports were helping him develop in different areas of other fields. This was also where he would meet his future wife, Brittany.

The numbers proved that he was going to be great in any of the sports that he picked. He racked up 4,619 passing yards and threw 50 touchdowns. Mahomes also had an insane motor which led him to notch 948 rushing yards and run to the end zone for 15 touchdowns. On the baseball side of things, he had 16 strikeouts and topped it all off with a no-hitter during his last playing year of high school.

There was a decision that needed to be made by Mahomes and his family. He was the MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year in 2014, so there were offers for him to play baseball and football. The Detroit Tigers wanted him so bad that he got picked out of high school in the 37th round of the MLB Draft. Texas Tech, Houston, and Rice all gave him offers to play football too. He opted to stay home and play his heart out for the Red Raiders because they gave him the option to play both sports. All of this snowballed from the advice of his godfathers and the athletes in his life.

Rise of a Red Raiders legend

Despite his talent, Mahomes was placed as the backup in his true freshman season. He only got action when Davis Webb went down against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. From then on, he became a staple at the signal caller spot. Mahomes even notched an insane 598 passing yards alongside six touchdowns to score the Big 12 freshman record against a tough Baylor squad. His numbers all added up to 1,547 yards while only being picked four times and getting 16 touchdowns.

Mahomes could not lead Texas Tech to any postseason glory in his years of playing. But, it was evident that his acumen under center started to become impeccable. Despite the lack of team success, he was able to total 11,252 passing yards on a 63.5 completion percentage and 93 passing touchdowns for his career. Not to mention, he also rushed for 820 yards and gave the Red Raiders six points 22 times because of those scrambles too.

In the Red Raiders’ 2016 game against Oklahoma, he secured the single-game passing yards record by notching 734 of them and single-game total offensive yards of 819. Add the fact that he was a relief pitcher for them too and his accomplishments become harder to reach.

He won the Sammy Baugh Trophy after leading all of college football in passing yards, points responsible for, yards per game, and total touchdowns. A decision was made that he would join the NFL Draft process after his junior year which stung the Texas Tech faithful.

Fast passing which led to a draft gamble

Everyone wanted to know if Mahomes was worth the hype and the first true test was the NFL Draft Combine. In some odd way, he surpassed these expectations by recording the fastest pass at the event which was measured at an insane 60 miles per hour. A lot of squads wanted him which led to the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals among others booking a workout with him.

By the night of the NFL Draft, Coach Andy Reid wanted to beat out the other teams. This led to the Kansas City Chiefs trading up from their original 27th pick to the 10th pick. Fortunately, the Buffalo Bills agreed with the terms of the trade and Mahomes was headed to Arrowhead. It was a big deal for the team because they had not gone crazy for a signal caller in the draft in so long. The last time they did this was in 1983 when they drafted Todd Blackledge. Note, they also still had Alex Smith in the rotation which proves just how much they wanted Mahomes. It was a big gamble that, as history would have it, panned out well for the Chiefs.

In the running to be the GOAT

During Mahomes’ first season, Big Red still had to bench Mahomes for Alex Smith. This was despite the quite hefty four-year deal valued at $16.42 million. Eventually, the Chiefs gave him a shot after they’d secured a postseason berth already. In his sole game of starting and playing, he clocked in 284 passing yards with an interception which was capped off by a win.

Coach Reid had to make a big gamble yet again. He started Mahomes for all of the 16 games they played throughout the season and it paid off. In just his second year, the Chiefs quarterback recorded his career highs with 8.8 yards per pass and an unbelievable 318.6 yards per game. This got him the honor of being the first Chiefs player to win MVP alongside a Pro Bowl selection and All-Pro nod. Team success also started pouring in as the Chiefs got to the postseason with a 12-4 record before getting beat up by the New England Patriots in the 2019 AFC Championship.

His dominance would only grow throughout the next few years. Mahomes would reach football immortality with the Chiefs in the next season by beating the San Francisco 49ers. It took two more seasons before they got back to winning the Super Bowl because of tough losses to Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals and Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After learning from those heartbreaks, he won two straight Super Bowls with the Chiefs as well as becoming the Super Bowl MVP in both games.

Despite not even being 30 years old, he already holds multiple records that will stand the test of time in NFL history. Mahomes is the fastest player to reach 10,000 and 25,000 passing yards alongside 200 passing touchdowns.
Outside of the sport, he has a very healthy family life. Brittany and Patrick have three children. He also found other ways to expand his ways of providing for his family. Companies like Oakley, Adidas, Hunt’s, and Head & Shoulders have all reached out to have him as their primary endorser. Not to mention, he was also on the cover of Madden NFL in 2020 and 2022. These all add up to his net worth of $90 million.