Patrick Mahomes spent his rookie season sitting behind Alex Smith (Image Source: Getty)

Patrick Mahomes is not even 30 years old yet, and he is already doubtlessly one of the greatest players in NFL history. Ever since becoming the Kansas City Chiefs’ starting quarterback in 2018, he has led them to at least the AFC Championship Game and won three Super Bowls in four appearances, while collecting five MVP awards (two regular-season and three Super Bowl) in the process.

But as he will readily admit, none of that may have happened had he not been studying Alex Smith from the bench as a rookie. Speaking to SiriusXM on Wednesday alongside his predecessor, Mahomes said:

“I always give this man his flowers, but I truly mean it. I came in and I was just relying on my talent.’ …And then I watched Alex work and I was like, ‘Let me just try to do some of that stuff.’

“That Week 17 game, I played and I remember being like, when you work like this and know what you’re gonna do before the snap, it makes everything easier. His blueprint of how to be a successful quarterback in the NFL is what I picked up on, and he gave me the advice,” he added.

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Patrick Mahomes assesses Chiefs’ 3-peat chances

It is now 2024, and the Chiefs have a chance to do something unprecedented: win three straight Super Bowl titles.

Such an achievement would elevate them, and especially Patrick Mahomes, to another level of greatness that could even surpass Tom Brady’s. But ever since preseason began, the initial excitement has largely dissipated.

But it is not as if they stopped believing that it could and would happen – they still do. It is just that other teams have become wary of it and are planning accordingly to prevent it from happening.

In that same interview, Mahomes said:

“It wasn’t like we talked about it openly. I mean right after the Super Bowl you saw that we were saying like, ‘We gotta go do it’. But since we’ve gotten back, it’s just football. We know what the process is. The day-by-day process of just getting better. …Guys want to be great, and I think that’s the best thing about it.”

The Chiefs host the Detroit Lions, who defeated them in last season’s Kickoff Game, this Saturday in a preseason matchup. Kickoff is at 4:00 p.m. ET. They open their 2024-25 season at Arrowhead Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5.