Patrick Mahomes: How He's Evolved Through The Years

Patrick Mahomes has become a household name during his incredible run in the National Football League. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was drafted in 2017 and has made a name for himself in the short time he's been in the league. In that time, he has helped bring his team to the Super Bowl twice, winning one of those games and losing the other.

Mahomes is mostly known for the way he impresses on the football field, but he hasn't been free from a few scandals during his time in the spotlight. However, most of the time, the scandals are centered around those closest to him and not Mahomes specifically. According to Game 7, his fiancée, Brittany Matthews has been the source of controversy. From questionable actions to offensive tweets, Matthews has been the name seen most in the media.

However, it is important to separate Mahomes' career from the actions of his fiancée. There are many things you may not know about Mahomes outside of his stats on the field and the actions of his partner.

Patrick is a celebrated athlete in his own right, but he is not the only Mahomes to make a splash in the sports world. According to Biography, Mahomes was born in Tyler, Texas on September 17, 1995. He was born into an athletically gifted family, being the son of Major League Baseball pitcher, Patrick "Pat" Mahomes. His mother is Randi Martin Mahomes, who may not play sports like her son and ex-husband, but she was the ideal football mom for Patrick growing up.

The Mahomes family are a close group although Patrick's parents are divorced. You will often see both of them attending his games. In fact, you can see the love he shares with his father in an adorable clip from his Super Bowl victory. According to the Huffington Post, you can see the Mahomes men share a special moment on the field. The quarterback is seen hugging his father and saying, "We did it, baby," adding, "I love you." Mahomes values the relationship he shares with his parents.

While the name Patrick Mahomes might be synonymous with football these days, the first Patrick Mahomes (the father of the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback) was also a professional athlete, just in another sport. The website GMTM offered a deep dive into Patrick's experience as a kid, growing up on baseball fields as his dad played for the New York Mets.

As his dad recounted to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in September 2015, his son had a lot of fun growing up on a baseball diamond. In fact, his dad let the young Mahomes get quite involved, even when others weren't so sure. He told the newspaper, "When we were in the World Series, I would let him go out to center field with me and let him shag balls. The coaches were wary that he was going to get hit, but I told them if he gets hit one time, he will learn — then he won't do it again." 

It turned out his dad was right; the younger Patrick Mahomes caught a fly ball hit by former Mets player Robin Ventura during that experience, though that would hardly be the only time that he interacted with major baseball players. Patrick Mahomes Jr expained to the newspaper that spending time with Derek Jeter became normal to him. As he said, "You are around it and get a lot more practice. I was just having fun with my dad, throwing baseballs around."

Mahomes attended Texas Tech University before making his way to the National Football League. However, his journey to the college field wasn't perfect. According to Sporting News, Mahomes nearly gave up on the sport when he was in high school. He spent his high school years playing both baseball and football but wanted to stop playing football during his junior year.

His mother, Randi, shared, "Before his junior year in high school he came to me that summer wanting to quit football," she added, "but I just said you're going to regret it if you quit." To say he would have regretted it would be an understatement. Mahomes went on to play impressive seasons at Texas Tech before heading to the NFL.

However, Mahomes did not give up playing baseball during his time at Texas Tech. The son of an MLB pitcher continued to play baseball through college, but would eventually shift his focus solely to football.

Mahomes would be drafted from Texas Tech University in 2017 and while it seems like selecting him for your team would have been a no-brainer, he wasn't initially picked. According to Insider, nine NFL teams chose to pass on the quarterback before the Chiefs selected him. Those teams include the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, New York Jets, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina Panthers, and Cincinnati Bengals.

Mahomes' impressive NFL run isn't just centered around his stats on the field or the Super Bowl he has won. He is breaking barriers by being an active Black quarterback. The role of quarterback has notoriously been held by white players, but Mahomes has become a role model for players of all races.

In an interview with ESPN, he shared, "The best thing about it is you're showing kids that no matter where you grow up, what race you are, that you can achieve your dream. He continued, "For me, being a black quarterback — having a black dad and a white mom — it just shows that it doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter if you're a baseball player or basketball player, follow your dreams."

Outside of his work on the football field, the other side of his life is the most interesting to fans. His relationship with his fiancée, Brittany Matthews, has been a source of conversation in the media from day one. However, the love affair between the pair spans longer than many fans might realize.

According to Us Weekly, they became close during Matthews' freshman year at their high school, Whitehouse High School. Their relationship became more serious when Mahomes gifted her a rose on Valentine's Day. From then on, they were a couple.

Matthews has been supporting her partner from the beginning. The fact that he is playing professional football is still shocking to her. She told The Today Show, "He ended up going to Texas Tech, and that's when it really hit me, 'Oh s—t, he might go play professional football," adding, "It was surreal to see him living his dream and seeing him grow as an athlete and as a man in general was just amazing."

The couple got engaged in 2020, the same year he signed a 10-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs (via People).

Mahomes is more than just a quarterback and a fiancée, he is also a father! According to People, Mahomes and Matthews welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sterling Skye, on February 20, 2021. The pair were thrilled to become parents.

In an interview with KCSP 610 Sports Radio, Mahomes gushed that out of all the great things that happened to him in 2020, getting engaged and finding out they were expecting their first child together was the highlight. He did add that winning the Super Bowl that year was pretty cool, too, but nothing beats family.

Now that their daughter has been born, the Mahomes family has one goal in mind. Regardless of how unique her life is, they want her to grow up in as normal of an environment as possible. Mahomes told The Today Show, "I think I have a little bit of an understanding because my dad played professional sports, but it's going to be a little different in the social media age and everything like that," adding, "We just want to give her the most normal life that she possibly can so she can grow and have friends and learn and get better and better every single day."

Patrick and Brittany Mahomes announced that they were engaged on September 1, 2020, and the same month they surprised fans with even more joyous news: the two were expecting their first baby together. Brittany shared the news on Twitter alongside a photo of the two holding up a sonogram and explained, "Just taking a small detour to the wedding."

Their first baby, daughter Sterling Skye Mahomes, was born on February 20, 2021. The two were protective of Sterling at first, with Brittany telling fans that they weren't going to share photos of their baby's face right away. The couple changed their tune later that year when Sterling showed up on Instagram, and Patrick later told Today, "Obviously at first we wanted to keep stuff private and not have her out there. It almost became like a burden to try to hide her at all times when we do stuff, and this coming season we want her to be at the games and not have to worry about hiding her the entire time."

Patrick and Brittany again returned to Instagram when they announced they were expecting their second child together on May 29, 2022, and their son Patrick Lavon Mahomes III, who they've nicknamed Bronze, was born on November 28, 2022 (via People).

In 2019, Patrick Mahomes decided to devote some of his vast resources to the non-profit orgaization the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. The name of the foundation is a play on Patrick's jersey number, which is 15, and is last name. 

The foundation works to improve the lives of children across the United States through a combination of initiatives that focus on health and wellness of children and their communities. For example, in December 2022, Mahomes and his team gave away thousands of books to schools in Kansas City, Kansas, and then followed up that generous act by donating an impresive $400,000 in grants to over 25 charities in the same city (via KMBC).

Mahomes previously praised the children and families that the foundations serves through its charitable acts. As he told KMBC in a press release ahead of a holiday event in 2021, "Those kids are the ones that train harder than me by a 100 times every single day, and I want to make sure I can give back to them in any shape and any way, in order to get them the resources that they need to have an amazing life."

Brittany Mahomes played soccer in high school, college, and professionally, and in December 2020 she and two friends went in on ownership of a professional women's soccer team in Kansas City, Kansas. As reported by TMZ, Brittany explained that her own experience as an athlete was part of her motivation to buy the club. She said, "As a former collegiate and professional soccer player, I have a true level of appreciation for what these incredible women do on a daily basis."

In January 2023, Patrick announced his decision to join his wife as part owner of the KC Current. He announced the news on Twitter, where he praised his wife as well as the couple who co-owns the team along with himself and Brittany. Patrick tweeted, ""I am thankful for the chance to join (Brittany Mahomes) as part of the (KC Current) ownership team. She and the Longs have done an incredible job building a world-class organization, and I am excited to join another championship-caliber club as it continues to make history."

Brittany also celebrated the news in an official statement, writing that she was "thrilled" to have her husband join herself and the co-owners to make history (via the Kansas City Star).

Patrick Mahomes has been widely celebrated as the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, and in 2023 he won his second NFL MVP award as evidence of that celebration. The news was announced only days before the 2023 Super Bowl, and media outlet KY3 noted that Mahomes "dominated" the voting round after round. 

Mahomes first won the honor back in 2018 when he received 48 of the 50 votes needed to secure the first place nod. The outlet also noted that 2018 was Mahomes' first years as a full-time starter for the Chiefs, making the achievement all the more special.

Mahomes was moved by the possibility of winning the award the day before the announcement was made. Mahomes was quick to share his belief that if he won the award, it would only be because of the support given to him by his teammates. As he said in a press conference, "In order to win the MVP, you have to be on a great team, and especially at the quarterback position, you have to have great players around you because you're throwing the football, but they gotta make the plays happen. As much as you take pride in winning that award for yourself, teams take pride in winning that award because it's a team award, really, in a sense" (via the NFL).