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40 minutes for a 51–31 come-from-way-behind win in which he also threw for 321 yards. Seven days later in the AFC Championship game against Tennessee, he salvaged the Chiefs’ season that was teetering on the brink of extinction early—they were staring at a 10-point deficit—by throwing for three touchdowns and running for another score to prevail 35–24. SPLENDID SELECTION Selected 10th overall by the Chiefs in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Texas Tech, Mahomes was handed the reins to the offense at the start of the 2018 season—and the staggering production commenced immediately. He threw four touchdown passes in the season opener, tossed half a dozen more a week later at Pittsburgh, and was magnificent the rest of the season. He racked up 5,097 passing yards and 50 touchdown passes that season, joining Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to ever hit those marks together in a single season, and he walked away with the NFL MVP award. Ruthlessly efficient whether throwing from the pocket or on the run, Mahomes gives defensive coordinators migraines and teams fits. With his remarkable ability to contort his body and deliver throws from all sorts of awkward positions and strange angles, Mahomes extends drives and tilts games in the Chiefs’ favor. The son of a former professional athlete—his father played 11 seasons of Major League Baseball—Mahomes is an exceptional athlete who savors hard work, cherishes learning, and relentlessly chases improvement. Already the owner of multiple records and one of only three quarterbacks to raise the Lombardi Trophy before turning twenty-five (along with Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger), Mahomes is poised to shred the NFL’s most revered passing records.

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Patrick Mahomes