Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes describes how he stays ready in a shorter offseason, training with teammates while making time for family. Mahomes spoke during a press conference following minicamp at the team’s training facility on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Kansas City. By Emily Curiel
Nearly a third of his life ago, it’s easy to forget now, Patrick Mahomes was a mortal in the embryonic phase of what was to come.
As he entered a season of being mentored by Alex Smith, the supremely gifted and astute 21-year-old quarterback grappled with the most rudimentary elements of the job.
Despite almost immediately achieving a mind-meld with coach Andy Reid when it came to the most sophisticated stuff, Mahomes initially labored with certain nuances because he’d always operated out of a shotgun offense and typically had called plays at the line of scrimmage at Texas Tech.
So getting the team in and out of a huddle was new to him, and so was the footwork of taking snaps under center. The finer points of calling out Reid’s verbose plays was a challenge, and so was even modulating his voice as a QB.
He was yelling plays out so loud, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy recalled last month, that the defense could hear the calls.
“We had to tell him to chill out,” Nagy said, smiling and later adding, “So we had to work on that — little things individually.
“But now we’re much broader, much bigger. And he’s at a different level, and he’s in a really good place.”
Indeed, Mahomes hardly could be broader or bigger. Or perched at any higher level than the one to which he’s ascended after helping transform the self-image of a franchise and a city and even re-framing what’s possible
On the cusp of his milestone 30th birthday (Sept. 17), it’s tempting just to fixate on all that’s changed since — and to what degree that might be a prologue to the future in what already is a Pro Football Hall of Fame-bound career.
So much so that his case could be made merely by stating his name and dropping the mic.
To succinctly sum it up as the Chiefs start training camp on Tuesday in St. Joseph, only three men in NFL history have quarterbacked more Super Bowl victories than Mahomes (three): Tom Brady with seven and Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana with four each.
Only Brady, a term we’re going to hear plenty for at least a few years, had won as many as Mahomes by age 29. And it bears mention, in more ways than one, that Brady won his final four between ages 37 and 43.
Only Brady, 35-13 in the postseason, has won more playoff games than Mahomes (17-4).
And … only Brady has been named Super Bowl MVP more times (five) than Mahomes, whose three is tied with Montana.
To say nothing of Mahomes’ two regular-season MVP honors and the way his game defies traditional boundaries and the too-many records or records in the making to list and the improv and the sheer magic carpet ride he takes us all on every time he plays.
So an unfathomable amount has changed in what suddenly seems like a blur, and Mahomes even will playfully acknowledge that he feels older as he closes in on 30.
“First off, kids, I feel like age you a little bit,” he said, smiling, when I asked him about it in May. “So having three kids makes you grow up.”
Then he joked about “just trying to relate to (younger players) as much as I can. But at the same time, I’m still not 30 yet. So I feel like I can (relate) for at least right now.”
More seriously, though, Mahomes said he’s invigorated both by longtime teammates and the more recent arrivals who “give you a new juice and a new spirit to go out there and be even better.”
As for the potential impact of years of punishment and injuries, Mahomes said he doesn’t “necessarily” feel any cumulative effect. He also said he benefits from having a better understanding of his body and how to train and recover — work he does zealously with longtime personal trainer Bobby Stroupe.
“Obviously, I bounced back a little bit quicker when I was younger,” Mahomes said. “But at the same time I have a better plan and a better standard I kind of hold myself to on a day-to-day basis.”
Meanwhile, though, there’s another vital and revealing development since the Chiefs drafted Mahomes in 2017.
How much hasn’t changed.
Despite earning a nearly $500 million contract and gazillions in endorsements and world-wide fame, Mahomes by every observable measure is somewhere between unspoiled and unfazed by it all.
By all appearances, he’s still the same guy who’d remind Whitehouse (Texas) High football coach Adam Cook of teammates’ birthdays and look out for the last kid picked and smile and acknowledge everyone in his middle-school classes.
He’s still tight with his friends from high school, where he met his wife, Brittany.
And he still radiates a winsome confidence without a trace of cockiness, treats interviewers with respect and thoughtfulness and remains the rare relatable superstar among all in the locker room.
All of that constancy is very nice and makes him easy to root for and rally behind.
But perhaps the way Mahomes has remained true to himself and on the same trajectory that matters most when it comes to football is his voracious competitiveness.
“I’ve been around a lot of people, and no one is as competitive as him,” Nagy said in 2023. “So he’s (No.) 1, and there’s no 1A.”
For all he’s achieved, that’s why there isn’t a trace of complacency in Mahomes’ persona and probably not even in his DNA.
Instead …
“I’d say the more he’s winning, the more driven he is, which is a little opposite of what you would think,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach once told The Star. “Which is really unique.”
When I asked Veach if he believes that’s because Mahomes wants to be the best there ever was, he read the end of the question and interjected: “Yeah. Mm-hmm. I think he wakes up every day with that in mind.”
Or at least waking up every day wanting to be “the best that I can be,” as Mahomes put it in a 2023 interview with The Star.
Which brings us back to Mahomes standing on the verge of 30 with “only Brady” standing before him in so many ways.
At what might be considered an approximate halfway point of his career, Mahomes surely is cognizant of chasing Brady but also knows it’s all about the precious present.
Especially in the wake of the humbling 40-22 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX that dashed the quest to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls.
“I’m pretty motivated anyways. But I think when you get some of those tiring sets or tiring reps … in the workout, you have something in the back of your mind that you’re kind of pushing towards,” Mahomes said in April. “You have that bad taste in your mouth from the last time you stepped on the football field, and you kind of have to hear about it all offseason.
“So it gives you the push that you want to go out there and be better. And show what we’re really about.”
As for how many more years he’d like to show that, the most I can recall Mahomes entertaining the topic was in a 2024 interview with Time magazine.
Brady, he said, had “skewed people’s brains” on how hard it would be to play quarterback into the mid-40s because of how well he’d taken care of his body.
In his case, he joked, he’d have to “get rid of this dad bod” to do that.
More seriously, he fretted about missing family commitments as his children grew older.
“I would love to play that long,” he said, adding, “But if I feel like it’s taking away from my family time, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to go.”
Until whenever that is, you can bet Mahomes will both continue to evolve and stay true to who he is — a formula that’s made him about the best there ever was by age 30 and suggests plenty more ahead.