10 Details You Should Know About Patrick Mahomes
NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes is leading a mini-dynasty with the Kansas City Chiefs. They're a perennial presence in either the Super Bowl or the AFC Championship, having appeared in the biggest game of the year three times from 2020 to 2023 (per NBC Sports) and have hosted the AFC Championship five straight times (per KCUR). And as everyone agrees, most of this is thanks to their team MVP, Mahomes.
The future Hall of Famer had a steady rise to stardom since childhood. He's the son of professional MLB pitcher Patrick Mahomes Sr. and got to rub elbows with other baseball greats, as Britannica details. The younger Mahomes was a star athlete on the diamond, as well, and was even drafted to the Detroit Tigers, but his fate lay with football. In his first, legendary year as a starter, the quarterback was named the NFL's MVP and is in the running again for the title for the 2022 season. With all of his on-field accomplishments, there have already been ESPN discussions on whether he'll be the greatest of all time (via First Things First on Twitter). And remember: as of 2023, Mahomes has only been a starter in the league for five years. In other words, he's a force to be reckoned with. Here's what you need to know about this solidified football star.
Patrick Mahomes' stellar college football career
According to Texas Tech University, where Patrick Mahomes played college football, he also played basketball and baseball in high school. He excelled at all the sports he played, so much so that he almost played in the MLB, not the NFL. In 2014, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers, almost skipping college altogether, but he decided to play football and went to Texas Tech.
Mahomes excelled so much on the football field in college that he didn't even finish his degree. He skipped his senior year, went into the NFL Draft, and was picked up by the Chiefs. He left the school as one of the best QBs in its history, and may have ended up as number one on several records lists had he stayed. When he left he was third in the school's history in touchdown passes, passing yards, attempts, and completions. He had 22 rushing touchdowns, second on the list, as well as second in total touchdowns responsible for. During his final year at the university, he became the leading passer in the nation, something Tech QBs have been good at doing in recent decades.
Although he would have most likely broken several records at the school had he stayed, heading off to the big time to win a Super Bowl within three years was a pretty good decision in hindsight.
Patrick Mahomes' rapid rise to NFL greatness
Patrick Mahomes's Kansas City Chiefs bio contains a rather long list of why it was a good career move to join the NFL a bit early. In his first year with the team, he threw 26 touchdown passes and 2,810 yards in the first eight weeks of the season. That was the most any NFL QB has racked up in his first nine games ever. That season, he became the second QB in NFL history to complete 50 touchdown passes and throw for over 5,000 yards in a single season. (Again, the only other one is Peyton Manning. That guy's pretty good.)
Mahomes also holds several other franchise records, but one of his greatest achievements has to be his rallying his team to a come-from-behind victory at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 (which followed two other come-from-behind wins the same postseason — they wiped away a 24-point deficit in the divisional round, via ESPN, and a 10-point deficit in the AFC Championship, via ESPN). According to Sports Illustrated, the third-year quarterback led his team to wipe away a 20-10 deficit to win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Faith is important to him
It's no secret that many NFL players are outspoken believers in God and Christianity; you'll find plenty of athlete social media bios with Biblical quote references (via Instagram and Instagram, to sample a few). During the 2022 season, The New York Times observed that the relationship between football and faith has had a long history, more so than other sports, because of the sport's unique physicality and the heightened risk of injury resulting from it. And you can count Patrick Mahomes as among the believers. In February 2020, just before he would go on to win the Super Bowl LIV (per CNBC), Mahomes said he wasn't just playing the sport for wins and accolades but that he believed his performance was in service to God, as well, reports KSN. He also believed he could take pride in his on-field talent as long as he adhered to the principles of his faith.
Much of this is thanks to his mother, Randi, who made sure her two sons were present every Sunday at their local church in Tyler, Texas, details the Houston Chronicle. After a rocky start — Patrick wasn't as enthusiastic about the experience as his mother — he became involved in a youth group and eventually began leading worship services with other kids.
That deep-rooted faith came up again after dealing with an injury before his 2022 AFC Championship win. After the game, Patrick said he believed his injury was healed by God (via Sports Spectrum).
Patrick Mahomes really, really loves his dogs
Patrick Mahomes is crazy about his dogs, Steel and Silver. And he is not alone. The pair of lovable pit bulls have a whole army of Instagram followers — just over 200,000. Steel and Silver love dressing up, especially in anything rocking the Kansas City Chiefs logo. Silver even once donned a cap, glasses, and fake mustache for a selfie looking like his dad's head coach Andy Reid.
According to The Kansas City Star, Steel was a gift from Patrick to his wife Brittany back in 2017, during his last year at Texas Tech. And although he tells people now that Steel is named for the burnished color of his fur, he is actually named after the Pittsburg Steelers (something for which Chiefs fans forgave him since he got them a Super Bowl). "Me and my dog Steel are exactly the same person, except he's a dog," said Mahomes. "His mannerism, like the stuff he does, is literally exactly the same as me."
Silver came along two years later, during the 2019 NFL Playoffs. At first, Mahomes said that getting him during such a busy time of the season was "a joint decision," but then revealed whose idea it really was. "[Brittany] definitely wanted it. I was trying to wait until the offseason, but she wanted to get it up here quickly."
He's gotten into golf
Many NFL players maintain their competitive edge in the offseason with a round of golf, as the NFL can attest to. It's the perfect sport; there's little risk of injury that could jeopardize their next season. And Patrick Mahomes is no different. He was introduced to the sport through his father, and the course was a way for the two to bond when his father had the time, per Golf.com, but the sport has grown into an off-season passion for Mahomes. In a profession where the pressures of an NFL game often land on his shoulders, Mahomes uses golf to decompress. The quarterback also admitted to planning his vacations so he can find the time — and the place — to tee off.
Much like he's done for football and baseball, he's built a skill for golf. As of 2021, Mahomes had managed to achieve a 7.7 index (which converts to a round number handicap depending on the difficulty of the course). He regularly plays with other NFL players like Travis Kelce and Chad Henne, but he really made headlines in 2022 when he competed alongside Bills quarterback Josh Allen against their legendary counterparts, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, reports NBC Sports. The more seasoned vets eventually won "The Match," as it was called, but Mahomes made some highlights and at one point regained the lead for his team after he made a birdie putt. The game was decided on the last hole, with Rodgers and Mahomes squaring off, but Rodgers provided stiff competition with a handicap indexed at 5, per Golf.com.
Patrick Mahomes is an activist and philanthropist
In 2019, Patrick Mahomes founded the nonprofit organization 15 and the Mahomies. According to the foundation's website, it "is dedicated to improving the lives of children ... [through] initiatives that focus on health, wellness, communities in need of resources and other charitable causes." Its signature program — 15 For 15 — supports 15 charity organizations aimed at promoting both academic and extracurricular activities for youth. The foundation announced in December 2020 that it would give a total $250,000 to 15 different Kansas City area organizations that work to achieve its stated goals.
Mahomes has also gotten involved in the movement for racial justice that saw an increase in calls for action after the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. Sports Illustrated reported that he was part of a group of NFL players who sent a video to the league administration expressing a list of things they wanted to hear in its official statements. "[What if] I was George Floyd?" the Super Bowl MVP asked. "I am Tamir Rice." Then the video featured him and other stars in the league saying, "Black Lives Matter."
Mahomes' activism doesn't stop there. In the same month as the aforementioned news, Sports Illustrated reported on his work encouraging people to be a part of the democratic process. In June 2020, he teamed up with L. A. Laker LeBron James on his "More Than a Vote" project, which aimed to inspire Black people to add their votes and their voices to politics. "Change isn't made by watching from the sidelines," Patrick tweeted. "Let's do this @KingJames."
He prefers Call of Duty over Madden NFL
Don't expect Patrick Mahomes to play "Madden NFL" games in his downtime just because he's a football player. Or because he's been on the cover of "Madden" twice (via ESPN). Or because his actual on-field style of play has been described as a "Madden" cheat code (via SBNation). Rather, Mahomes likes to take a break from football shenanigans during his offseason and prefers "Call of Duty," per Yahoo! Sports. In 2019, he said he could spend several hours a day during the offseason playing the game while reconnecting with childhood friends.
Rest assured, it's not always fun and games. Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said the game was responsible for the Super Bowl-bound team's mid-season rebound in 2022 after suffering from a dry spell, reports CBS. More specifically, the players discovered their natural chemistry while playing "Call of Duty: Warzone." Mahomes, Smith-Schuster, tight end Travis Kelce, and receiver Marques Valdez-Scantling logged in several hours playing the game, and Smith-Schuster believed the resulting connection contributed to their Super Bowl run. The team's confidence in their gaming abilities has gotten so intense that Mahomes and teammate Tyreek Hill once trash-talked "COD" League player Josiah "Slacked" Berry online (via Twitter and ESPN), getting themselves caught up in the niche world of competitive gaming.
Patrick Mahomes and his wife have two kids
On February 20, 2021, Patrick Mahomes became a dad. He and his childhood sweetheart (per People), Brittany Matthews, welcomed their first child, daughter Sterling Skye Mahomes with an announcement on Instagram. The news came just months after Patrick proposed marriage at the Kansas City Chiefs stadium, photos of which Brittany shared on social media. Within two years, their family doubled in size, and on November 28, 2022, Brittany and Patrick had their second child, son Patrick "Bronze" Lavon Mahomes III (via Instagram).
After the birth of his daughter, Patrick told People that he was excited to be a girl dad and promised to get better at fixing her hair. And although he knew a thing or two about responsibility, leading an NFL team as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and all, nothing compared to the responsibilities he has as a father. Work-life balance as an NFL player can be a struggle, especially when his second child came during football season and right before a big game against the Cincinnati Bengals, reports ESPN. But Mahomes was ready for the big event, as he had been planning his son's name since he was five years old. He added the nickname "Bronze" to correspond to his sister's metal-themed name, foregoing the "Trey" moniker people often give to third-generation children.
His brother is a controversial TikTok star
Fans around the NFL know all about Jackson Mahomes. He's the outspoken and sometimes controversial younger brother of Patrick Mahomes. He has an impressive 1 million followers on TikTok, where much of the scandal surrounding his name has originated. On one occasion during the 2021 season, Jackson posted a TikTok video of himself doing a viral dance on the sidelines during a Kansas City Chiefs game against the Washington Commanders. The problem: the area in which he was dancing was a memorial for the late, great Washington player Sean Taylor and had been roped off to visitors, details NBC Sports. Jackson deleted the video and apologized, saying he was unaware of the memorial but not before catching the ire of fans around the league. The incident did little for his reputation, occurring only a month after a video showed him pouring water on a fan of an opposing team (via Barstool Sports).
But the backlash can be brutal. Jackson, who is gay, was the target of homophobic slurs during a game against the Denver Broncos, which was captured on video and posted on Twitter. Sister-in-law Brittany Mahomes was on hand to defend him and reprimand the fans. Jackson, whose TikTok bio references the bullying he's endured, has been vocal in his YouTube videos about trying to step out of his brother's shadow. Nevertheless, the two brothers are close and have even appeared in a State Farm commercial together.
Patrick Mahomes is building quite the real estate portfolio
Back in 2020, Patrick Mahomes reset the quarterback market by signing a 10-year, $503 million contract, making him the player in league history to earn half a billion dollars in a single contract, reports the NFL. In other words, he's received more money in a contract than any other NFL player, ever. Since then, he's been making some smart financial moves and has been building up his own real estate empire. The first property he purchased, back in 2017, was a penthouse condo in Kansas City, Missouri, notes Realtor.com. He listed it for sale in 2019, valuing the property at $485,000. With his new contract on the horizon, Mahomes quickly began racking up properties. He bought a home closer to Chiefs Kingdom in Overland Park, Kansas. The Kansas home was purchased at $1.95 million and featured a custom-designed closet for Mahomes's sneakers, fulfilling a seven-year dream of his, according to Bleacher Report.
In 2021, he revealed that one of his biggest purchases post-contract was a plot of land near Kansas City, in which he planned to build a new home, per the Dan Patrick Show. He estimated that it was the size of half a football field, so he envisioned using it for practice with teammates. That's not all — in 2020, he purchased a $4.2 million home on a private golf course in Westlake, Texas, per The Dallas News.