Patrick Mahomes | Biography, Stats, Contract, & Wife - Britannica

Quick ascent to MVP and Super Bowl champion

Foregoing his senior year, Mahomes entered the 2017 NFL draft, in which the Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the first round with the 10th overall pick, having traded up to acquire him. The Chiefs had sky-high expectations for him (General Manager Brett Veach called him “one of the best players I’ve ever seen”), but, as backup for starting quarterback Alex Smith, Mahomes played little during his rookie season. When Smith was traded to the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) at the end of the 2017 season, however, Mahomes became the starter. In 2018 he more than lived up to the hype, passing for 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns and thus becoming the second player (after Peyton Manning) in NFL history to throw for 5,000 or more yards and at least 50 touchdowns in a single season. With Mahomes at the helm of their potent offense, the Chiefs took a 12–4 regular-season record into the playoffs and advanced to the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game but lost to the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots in overtime. Mahomes’s wildly prolific season earned him not only Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors but also, at age 23, the league’s MVP title.

In 2019 a dislocated kneecap kept Mahomes out of the Chiefs lineup for two games at mid-season. Still, he stewarded the team to another 12–4 record and a return appearance in the AFC Championship Game, in which he threw three touchdown passes to lead the Chiefs to a 35–24 victory over the Tennessee Titans and on to their first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years. Mahomes struggled initially in Super Bowl LIV, throwing two interceptions as the Chiefs trailed the San Francisco 49ers by 10 points in the second half. In the fourth quarter, however, he turned the game around, throwing for touchdowns on two successive drives to guide the Chiefs to an eventual 31–20 win. Having completed 26 of 42 passes for 286 yards and rushed for a touchdown (in addition to making those two scoring throws), Mahomes received the Super Bowl MVP award, becoming the youngest quarterback ever to be so honored. During the following offseason he was rewarded with a 10-year contract extension worth some $503 million, which was the most lucrative agreement to date in the history of American professional sports.