Meet Patrick Mahomes, the NFL's Newest Star

There was perhaps more pressure on the Chief’s new quarterback Patrick Mahomes than on any other player at the beginning of 2018. First, the Chiefs used their top-ten pick on the young Texas Tech star. This alone would have brought a ton of pressure, as few expected that Kansas City would take him when they already had a stable signal-caller in Alex Smith. On top of that, however, the Chiefs decided that after a year on the bench, it was time to throw Mahomes into the fray by trading Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins. That meant that Mahomes had to spend all offseason hearing about what a great coach Andy Reid is and how much was expected of him in his first year as a starter. All of this put together would probably scare ordinary people to the point of complete paralysis. Patrick Mahomes is not an ordinary person though.

First, Mahomes played very well during the preseason. He completed 76% of his passes while throwing for 367 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns with only one pick. He seemed very poised the whole time, and never really gave the impression that he wasn’t comfortable. This was just preseason, though, so its hard to say for sure that anything was trustworthy. It was a good start, but nobody could have known whether or not he would carry it into the regular season.

In week 1, Mahomes quieted any doubters. He threw for 256 yards, four touchdowns, and 0 interceptions in the win versus the Chargers. He was very effective at taking what the defense was giving him, as he completed 56% of his passes(admittedly not spectacular) and never tried to do too much, as many first year QB’s tend to do.

Week 2 is when he really let loose, though. In a 42-37 shootout win against the Steelers, Mahomes went 23-28 for 326 yards and six touchdowns. Yes, six. In his third career start, Mahomes came just score away from the single season record. After this hot start, Mahomes has beaten the record for TD’s in a player’s first three starts ever by a QB. The craziest part, though, is that he didn’t even throw one in his first start last year against the stout Denver defense. He only needed two starts to do better than anyone ever had in three. To call that insane would actually be an understatement.

Mahomes has gotten off to about as good a start as anyone could ever have hoped. While plenty of players in every sport have been great in their first few games and then never been heard from again(basically every young player to make the cover of Madden), Mahomes seems less likely to slow down. He really does have one of the best coaches possible for his situation in Reid, plus maybe the best slew of weapons around him with Kareem Hunt, Tyreke “what Usain Bolt would be like as a football player” Hill, and Travis Kelce, maybe the best TE in the NFL not named Gronkowski. While he probably won’t continue averaging 5 touchdowns a game, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say he could well be a superstar in the making.