When Patrick Mahomes II assumed the starting quarterback duties for the Kansas City Chiefs, the entire football world was curious about the new pigskin passer that was tearing up the league and sh*tting on the record books.
Two seasons later, the 24-year-old quarterback King is on top of the NFL world, with a regular-season MVP (2019) to his credit and a Super Bowl MVP trophy to add to the mantle — next to his obnoxious sneaker collection.
While players such as Dak Prescott, Cam Newton, and Jameis Winston were being devalued and fighting tooth and nail to get paid what they are worth, Mahomes II chilled, knowing that a huge bag was coming his way in the form of a record-setting 10-year extension through 2031 worth up to $503 million. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the deal includes $140 million guaranteed and a no-trade clause.
The deal is the highest-value deal in American professional sports history (worth $450 million). Mahomes surpasses Russell Wilson as the highest-paid NFL player.
Largest QB contracts in terms of average annual value:
1. Patrick Mahomes: $45M
2. Russell Wilson: $35M
3. Ben Roethlisberger: $34M
T-4. Aaron Rodgers: $33.5M
T-4. Jared Gofd: $33.5M
6. Kirk Cousins: $33M
7. Carson Wentz: $32M
8. Dak Prescott: $31.409M (franchise tag)— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 6, 2020
The Chiefs have to guarantee Mahomes’ salary “a year out” each season or cut him, which would allow him to become a free agent.
From Baseball Player To Baseball Numbers As A Football Player
Mahomes’ athletic prowess didn’t come out of the blue. The two-sport athlete, who was also drafted in 2014 by the Detroit Tigers to play baseball, was destined to be a better athlete than his dad Pat, a former MLB pitcher who schooled him on the value of athletics and the game of life at a very young age.
The Super Bowl win brings us great pleasure, Mahomes Sr. told The Shadow League in an interview on Monday morning. Knowing all of the hard work is paying off and hopefully, there’s more great things to come.
The last time I spoke to Pat Sr., his words didn’t hold as much cache with the world. Young Patrick hadn’t led the Chiefs to a chip yet. With his 286 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, and 1 rushing score, Mahomes helped Kansas City break the second-longest streak between Super Bowl wins by a franchise in NFL history (49 years).
Now, turning back the clock on that interview with his Dad seems highly appropriate as Mahomes has become the second youngest QB to win a Super Bowl behind Ben Roethlisberger and just the third Black QB to do it, joining Doug Williams and Russell Wilson.
As a Dad, I feel gratitude that all the things I thought I saw were real, an overjoyed Mahomes Sr. added. Just very proud of the man he has become and the way he carries himself.
Pat offered The Shadow League a first-person account of his life, how he’s inspiring black pitching prospects through MLB’s youth diversity programs and how his son, the NFL’s new QB phenom, ended up on the gridiron rather than the diamond after growing up in MLB clubhouses and shagging fly balls from the likes of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
By Pat Mahomes Sr.
Patrick chose football as his final destination, while I chose pro baseball, but both journeys were inspired by supportive fathers and an early burning passion for athletics.
Pat Mahomes makes his first entrance at Arrowhead as the starter for the @Chiefs 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qI3w2JzpJP
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 23, 2018
I kind of bumped into baseball. I was supposed to get drafted as an outfielder out of Lindale High School in Texas, where I played varsity baseball, basketball, and football. The MLB scouts would come and watch me play. One day, one of the pitchers on the team got hurt and the coach brought me in, to pitch. I was throwing 91-92 miles per hour at the time and I pitched well.
Once they saw that I had a live arm, the scouts would come to the game and have me pitch a bullpen session on the side, but they were still more interested in me being a hitter. The Minnesota Twins — who I never spoke to during the draft process — selected me in the sixth round of the 1988 MLB Draft as a pitcher. Once I signed to play pro ball I was determined to give pitching everything I had.
Pat was a solid MLB journeyman from 1992 to 2003, playing for several squads, including the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Pittsburgh Pirates. He also pitched in Japan for two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball in 1997 and 1998 for the Yokohama BayStars.
Pat Mahomes Sr: A love of baseball was passed down through generations. I learned the game from my father who played semi-pro baseball. He started me playing when I was four years old and I always excelled at it. That was the game that I was most comfortable with. I actually signed a scholarship to play basketball at Arkansas, but once I got drafted I decided to go to the Twins and went from there.
I compiled a winning 42-39 record with 450 Ks in my MLB career. The 1999 season was my best and my most memorable one. I went 8-0, undefeated for the season on a New York Mets team that should have won the World Series, but ended up losing in the NLCS. It’s probably the best team I’ve ever been to.
Going to the World Series in 2000 and playing in a Subway Series against the Yankees is up there as well. I developed many relationships and was able to live out a dream and lay the foundation for my son Patrick’s success. Everyone needs a good mentor.
Probably the most influential person that I met in my career was Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett when I first went to the Twins. He was the guy who really taught me about work ethic and how to be a professional, traits that I passed along to my son.
I started taking Patrick to the ball field when he was four years old and dressing him out and letting him shag balls and be around the guys in the clubhouse. He was a sponge. He just picked up on all the little things they did and how hard they worked.
He was able to be with A-Rod and meet Derek Jeter and be around guys of that nature who were on top of the game and he saw how hard they worked and it was just something that always stuck with him. Being around those guys helped him when he decided to make football a career.
He learned how hard you have to work to be at that level and he’s never turned back. He puts in the hours of work off the field, he’s what they call a gym rat. Always studying film and trying to figure out ways to get better and that transfers well to the NFL because you have so much studying and preparation you have to do each week before each game.
Combining a disciplined intellectual approach to the game with his freakish athletic skills is the key to Patrick’s seamless transition to the NFL game and why the third-year signal-caller out of Texas Tech won a Super Bowl in his second season as a starter.
Pat Mahomes Sr: He was a 4.0 student in college, he was gonna graduate by the end of his junior year. He’s always been studious. He has a photographic memory so things always come easy for him. His recall is second to none. I also feel that the idea of him playing multiple sports when he was younger really helped. If you watch him play, his baseball background has a lot to do with how he throws passes.
The ability to use that freedom of skills in (Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy’s) offense is why I thought the Chiefs were a perfect fit.
He throws passes sidearm and no-look and that’s all stuff he learned from playing shortstop in baseball. So he’s taken a little bit of that and added it to other parts of his football game and it’s not something that a lot of people have seen before. It’s going well right now, but the objective is to keep learning and keep doing great things out on the football field.
Mahomes’ unique style of play has set the NFL ablaze. Football provided Mahomes the athletic platform to become a superstar, but It was baseball that sparked Patrick’s love of sports, his competitive edge and continues to provide him with advantages on the football field that other players don’t have.
Pat Mahomes Sr: A-Rod was a huge influence on Patrick and a guy who really spent a lot of time with him. Other than myself, another big influence was former MLB pitcher Latroy Hawkins, whos also his godfather. He really taught him a lot of stuff, showed him how to be professional.
The first time he was out on the baseball field you could tell he was the best player out there even though he was the youngest player out there. He was catching balls off big-league bats, shagging balls in the outfield when he was five years old. He was a little more advanced than the other kids.
Everybody thought he was gonna play baseball and get drafted in the first round as an outfielder. In addition to his batting skills, he threw 95 miles per hour off the mound. But his junior year, he got a chance to play quarterback for Whitehouse High School in Texas, where Patrick was a three-sport athlete, just like me. You know how contagious and crazy Texas football is.
He had 4,619 passing yards, 50 passing touchdowns, about 1,000 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns as a senior and his baseball career was pretty much over. He was too a point where I think he felt like he had learned everything he could about baseball and football offered him some new learning things, really intrigued him and he fell in love with it.
Making adjustments and following their hearts has worked out well for the Mahomes family. They live a common theme with a set of values that has brought them athletic success and good fortune.
Pat Mahomes Sr: I always tell [Patrick Jr.] before every game how proud I am of him and remind him of what my dad Johnny Mahomes used to tell me: ‘You’ll always be successful if you perform to the limits of your ability’
Pat Mahomes throws a TD Pass.
In other news, water is wet. #SFvsKC pic.twitter.com/u2xDPDoVcD
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) September 23, 2018
Pat’s at the top of the world right now, but it’s going to be a fight for him to stay there.
It’s definitely going to be a fight. Who knows if Mahomes will even play the entire decade in Kansas City? There are so many unforeseen variables in that equation. So many unpredictable situations in football where the average player doesn’t stay much longer than 3 seasons.
Mahomes’ powerful payday will be added pressure. Those things we once marveled at, we will now expect him to do. Like, win Super Bowls and MVP’s.
“If he tries the best he can that’s all you can ask for., Mahomes’ Dad told me. “The players make plays… that’s the code we live by. If he goes out and makes plays hopefully the outcome turns out the way he wants to.”
With a supportive father like Pat Mahomes Sr., it’s no surprise that his son represents the evolution of the NFL’s next generation of great quarterbacks. His success as a QB and record contract is a byproduct of a strong father-son bond.
