It may only be six years into his NFL career (five as the starter), but Patrick Mahomes is doing things no one else has ever done, including the current GOAT, Tom Brady. In his first five years as starter, he has already been to the Super Bowl three times and won twice, most recently against the Philadelphia Eagles. While there are many teams that drafted ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017, none have found anywhere near the success the Chiefs have.
Patrick Mahomes Already in the GOAT Conversation
In his first five years as the starting quarterback for the Chiefs, he has never missed an AFC Championship Game appearance. Three of those years have ended in the Super Bowl with two of them being victories. He has already won two regular season MVP awards and two Super Bowl MVP awards. It is hard to imagine that he is only 27 years old and has a lot of games left in him. His first season as the starter did not end in a Super Bowl championship, but did end in an MVP award.
Patrick Mahomes during the #Chiefs Super Bowl leading touchdown.
"F**k it, I don't know."pic.twitter.com/SasN0yG2Tb
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 16, 2023
Mahomes became only the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for 50 touchdowns in a single season. In fact, there have only been 19 times in a single-season that a quarterback threw for 40+ touchdowns. Patrick Mahomes, at 27 years old, already has two of those and only fellow GOAT’s Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have more such seasons with three each. This past offseason, the Chiefs even traded Tyreek Hill away to the Miami Dolphins. Many thought the Mahomes magic wouldn’t be there without The Cheetah to catch his passes. As we all saw, this was not the case as Mahomes still led his team to a Super Bowl victory.
If the multiple 40 touchdown seasons were not enough, Mahomes threw for over 5,000 yards this past season, marking the second time in his career he has accomplished this. There have only been 15 times a quarterback has reached 5,000+ yards passing in a single season. He now has two of those and only Drew Brees, with five such seasons, has more. He is presently tied with Tom Brady for the second most 5,000+ yard passing seasons in a career. Needless to say, this has been the strongest start to a quarterback’s career in history.
Moving Forward
Patrick Mahomes is already in the GOAT conversation, and his career trajectory seems to firmly put him in the conversation to break the aforementioned records and many other passing records over the course of his career. Will he reach Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowl victories? It is entirely too early to tell on that one as no matter how great the quarterback, this is a very tough task to win seven Super Bowls.
Add to that, the Chiefs will likely be looking for some wide receivers to add this offseason as they may lose their top two. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman are both free agents this offseason. Would they consider trying to make a trade for DeAndre Hopkins and/or Brandin Cooks to bolster their arsenal? Only time will tell if they re-sign either receiver or decide to look at trading/free agency or the draft to replace them. The future continues to be bright for Chiefs fans as long as Patrick Mahomes is under center.
Main Photo: Patrick Breen – USA Today Sports
