You couldn’t dream up a career like that of N.F.L. star Patrick Mahomes. In less than a decade, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has forced the -watching world to recalibrate its expectations for young talent. Earlier this year, the team extended his contract at a value of just over $500 million—the highest deal in the sport’s history.
Mahomes, who initially planned to follow in his father’s footsteps as a professional baseball player, ended up taking over as Kansas City’s QB No. 1 in 2018. Between then and the 2024 season, the two-time M.V.P. guided the Chiefs to seven straight playoff appearances and to the Super Bowl on five of those occasions, walking away with the Vince Lombardi trophy three times.
But every great story needs tension. In 2025, Mahomes’s season was cut short by injury, and the Chiefs missed the playoffs for the first time since he became the team’s full-time starter. Still, as he has consistently shown, the Texas native isn’t one to let adversity get the better of him. Here, Mahomes talks about what success means to him—and why he ignores what his financial adviser has to say about his car collection.
Mahomes photographed in Kansas City, Mo.
Andrew White
What’s the first thing you do each morning? I have to take a shower, and I have to brush my teeth. No matter what time I have to be up, I wake up 15 minutes early to do those two things. It started when I first grew my hair out. I hated how my hair would get matted down in the morning.
What have you done recently for the first time? I went to [the country-music festival] Stagecoach. It was the first time I’d ever been to any big festival like that. It was a lot of fun, honestly.
Which apps on your phone do you use the most? I probably use Twitter, or X, and my Whoop app most. I track my recovery score every morning, so I use that a lot.
What do you crave most at the end of the day? I crave some type of unhealthy snack. A lot of time, that’s chips. I do Doritos a lot. I go between Cool Ranch and the [Spicy Sweet] Chili, the purple one.
How do you find calm? I usually get in the sauna or do a bike ride to get moving and sweating a little bit. That, or in the morning, I read my Bible.
Who is your guru? My mentor growing up was LaTroy Hawkins, my godfather and one of my dad’s teammates and best friends. He’s a coach in the M.L.B. now, and so he’s someone I look to for advice. When I was in high school, he told me I [could be] a professional athlete if I wanted to be one.
What’s the most recent thing you added to your collection? I just got a new car against my financial adviser’s wishes. I got a Ferrari SF90.
The Ferrari SF90 Mahomes’s financial adviser didn’t want him to buy.
Courtesy of Ferrari
What’s the most recent thing you regret not buying? Honestly, I usually buy all the things that I want to get [laughs]. If I don’t have it, I don’t want it.
What’s the most impressive dish you can cook? I’m not a big cook, but when I grew up, my mom had to work a lot, so I can make tacos. That’s what I used to make for me and my brother whenever I was watching him in high school.
Whom do you admire most? My wife. She has a lot on her plate. She takes care of not only the kids, but [she] lets me go out there and live out my dream, while she can do all that and still live out her own.
How do you get to sleep? I have no choice. We have to turn all the lights off. My wife sleeps in pitch-black darkness. Turn all the TVs off and stuff like that. When it’s that dark, you usually just fall asleep pretty easily.
Two necklaces from Beverly Hills jeweler Peter Marco.
Andrew White
If you could learn a new skill, what would it be? I want to be able to grill and cook a little bit more than I can now. I’ve been sending my wife a lot of the videos on Instagram of air fryers. I feel like that’d be easy for me to start with.
How much do you trust your gut instinct? I trust it pretty much all the time. I think I have a pretty good intuition—of trusting who I am and what I want to achieve.
Would you rather drive or be driven? I’d rather drive, as long as it’s under an hour. Once it gets to be like above an hour, my buddy Hugo usually drives us.
Are you wearing a watch? How many do you own? Yeah, so this is a Hublot. It’s a Big Bang, one of my favorites in their collection. I own a lot of watches. I don’t know what the exact number is, but there are a lot of Hublots in the collection. I like that they’re not afraid to be creative, not afraid to be bold, but still want to be the best and master all the little details as well.
His Hublot Big Bang Unico Eden Rock St Barths.
Andrew White
What advice do you wish you had listened to? I don’t know. I think the best piece of advice I did get was to focus on football and not baseball. I think that that one worked out [laughs].
What was the last piece of advice you gave someone? I told the guys going into rookie minicamp: I was in that position before. And there’s so much you’re worrying about—about trying to make the team and [trying] to do these things. It’s a game. Have fun. Enjoy it.
What’s always in your hand luggage? I always have my iPad and headphones on me. Because if I’m not watching a movie or listening to a podcast, I’m watching [game] film.
What is the car that you are most attached to? I’m pretty attached to all my cars. I don’t give any of them up. I didn’t buy a car until I signed my first big contract. I got a Ferrari 812 Superfast and won’t give that one away. That’s why my financial adviser is so mad at me.
Last streaming binge? The last show that I binged was Landman. I went to Texas Tech, which is in West Texas, so I know a lot of the cities and the things that go on there. And it was very accurate.
What kind of music makes you happy? My whole life it was rap, then a little bit of E.D.M., but now country. I listen to a lot of country music with my wife and kids, so that probably makes me the happiest right now.
