Getty QB Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass in Super Bowl LIV
On Thursday night, the Kansas City Chiefs open up their NFL’s season against the Houston Texans.
Chiefs QB Pat Mahomes helped guide the Chiefs to a Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers last season.
This season, all eyes will be on Mahomes after signing a massive contract back in July that is worth up to $503 million.
Per Spotrac: In 2020, Mahomes will earn a base salary of $825,000 and a signing bonus of $10,000,000, while carrying a cap hit of $5,346,508 and a dead cap value of $64,953,413.
Mahomes is a playmaker. Last season, Mahomes threw for 4,031, 26 touchdowns and only five interceptions.
His ability on the field recently had NFL Network’s Nate Burleson comparing the Chiefs quarterback to an NBA Hall of Famer.
“He’s like Magic Johnson,” Burleson told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast back in the spring.
“He sees the floor. He sees the court. He sees the field.
“So much so, that he even threw a no look pass like Magic did back in the day. And the reason why I say Magic versus LeBron, — LeBron is physical bro. LeBron is what Cam Newton was at quarterback: strong, fast and dominant. But Mahomes, is more like Magic because Magic was never really the greatest athlete. He was the slickest with the ball in his hand and he was smarter than everybody on the court. That’s Pat Mahomes. He’s not the greatest athlete on the field; he can run past you I guess, really though he’s just the smartest. He can make every throw on the field. Just like Magic can make any pass on the court.”
That’s high praise. On the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show, I asked NFL Hall of Famer, Marshall Faulk if he sees the comparison. “That’s a great analogy,” said Faulk.
LOS ANGELES – 1987: Magic Johnson #32 of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles the ball during an NBA game at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, California in 1987. (Photo by: Mike Powell/Getty Images)
“I mean, I wouldn’t bestow that on a young kid. You gotta understand what Magic came into in ‘79 when he went to the Lakers. I mean, the team that went to — I mean, that was a good team that he went to and people don’t understand that – Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Norm Nixon, Michael Cooper, [Jamal] Wilkes… listen, that was a GOOD team that he went to and if you just look at it, Mahomes came to a good team.”
In his first full season with the Chiefs in 2018, Mahomes had a quarterback rating of 113.8.
In that MVP-season, Mahomes threw for 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions.
Marshall Faulk marvels at the progression of Mahomes now versus two seasons ago. “They were playing good,” he told Heavy Live With Scoop B.
“Alex Smith was a playoff caliber quarterback. He just came off the NFC Championship with the 49ers and if you think about it in that perspective, yes. But if you’re talking about Magic as a finished product compared to this kid who you know, and let’s be real because I analyze football from reality. Second quarter middle of the third, he was shaky now. It wasn’t until — like somebody reminded Jimmy Garoppolo how much made and he had to start throwing the ball and the weight shifted back on to him but Mahomes was looking a little shaky. People… and listen, he broke out of it. He made some throws; now it was some ‘I trust you’ throws, it was some balls that were caught, it was some balls thrown and those guys made some catches and that’s what you need. You need that to happen. But all in all, I don’t want to call him Magic. I mean… Magic? The analogy lies in him going to that team and Magic going to the Lakers. I’ma keep that there.”