Right when the football world thought it knew Patrick Mahomes, he revealed something that should downright scare his opponents.
Everyone knows how great Patrick Mahomes is, but he might not be as close to his ceiling as we thought.
The 2018-19 NFL MVP and 2020 Super Bowl MVP recently appeared on HBO’s The Shop, hosted by Maverick Carter alongside guests like Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young. The episode doesn’t air until Saturday, but HBO released a clip that’s sure to provide nightmare fuel for any opponent.
“I didn’t understand how to read defenses until like halfway through last year,” Mahomes told the group. “I understood coverages, but how to be able to pick up little tendencies defenses do, stuff that Brady and them have done have done, they know it, they just do it. I was just playing.”
“This year, I could recognize more and more stuff and I think the more experience, the more I learn, I’ll be able to go out there and call plays and do that different stuff because I’ve seen it. I still think there’s a long way for me to go there. And that’s where, mentally, I can get better. Physically, I feel like I’ve done a lot of stuff. I always work on the fundamentals, but I think mentally, I can still take my game to a whole nother level.”
Assuming that statement is true, Mahomes still has a ways to go before we see him at his best. While that’s a terrific thing for football fans, it’s complete and utter nightmare fuel for Mahomes’ opponents. If he can win an MVP and a Super Bowl MVP while still picking up on the nuances of the game, imagine how good he’ll be once he becomes a seasoned veteran.
Despite seeing his numbers slip this season while battling a myriad of injuries (knee, ankle, hand), Mahomes returned in time to put together a historic postseason. He capped it off by leading a comeback vs. the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, becoming the second-youngest quarterback to win the big game.
To date, Mahomes is just the third player in league history to have a 50-touchdown, 5,000-yard season under his belt. At just 24 years old, he’s on pace nothing short of a legendary career. With his major stable of weapons (Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce) under contract together for at least the next couple of seasons, things probably won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
Unless Andy Reid retires early, the team completely falls apart or, knock on wood, Mahomes suffers a serious injury, this is just the beginning of something special. To find out that he has yet to consider himself as prepared as a Tom Brady or a comparable legend is terrifying.
Mahomes knows he has more work to do. He wants to win, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to add more Super Bowls to his resume. Having an even greater understanding of defenses moving forward could take his game to a level we’ve never seen before.