There’s no quarterback in the NFL today more decorated, dangerous, or relentlessly consistent than Patrick Mahomes. A three-time Super Bowl champion, five-time AFC title game starter, and the league’s leader in nearly every major passing metric since 2018, Mahomes enters every season with one goal: win it all again. And more often than not, he delivers.
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Yet, despite dominating the sport at the highest level, Mahomes doesn’t believe the NFL represents the purest version of football. To him, that honor belongs to where it all begins for every pro athlete: high school.
“I think just high school sports, and high school football especially, it just is the truest form of football,” the Chiefs quarterback said during a recent interview, promoting his T-Mobile partnership, Friday Night 5G Lights.
While his media appearance was tied to a promotional deal, it’s the absence of the exact financial aspect that makes high school sports so pure for Mahomes. “I mean, there’s no money. There’s no marketing deals. There’s no sponsorships. It’s all about just the love of the game and playing with the kids that you grew up with,” he expressed.
Mahomes, after all, carved his path to stardom from humble beginnings at Whitehouse High School in small-town Texas. Now, he fondly looks back on those good ol’ days.
“I grew up playing Little League baseball, Little League basketball with the guys that were playing starting receiver for me in high school, and I’m still friends with those guys.”
While everyone is eager to know about Mahomes and his Eagles revenge tour this season, his opinion on high school sports is arguably the rarest glimpse into what truly drives and matters to the NFL’s most unstoppable force.
Because even though ESPN once again ranked him the league’s No. 1 quarterback in 2025, citing his NFL-best 90.4 QBR on third downs and his 53.1% first-down conversion rate through the air, Mahomes is still deeply connected to his roots.
And rightly so, for his journey wasn’t paved with five-star expectations; it was built on grit, loyalty, and a passion for the game that predates bright lights and Lombardis.
“Nothing was given to me,” Mahomes continued. “Football was never really the path for me, and you just had to go out there to work hard and earn everything that you got.”
This same mindset, one that shaped his climb from Whitehouse to Texas Tech to NFL MVP, now powers his off-field mission. With T-Mobile’s new initiative, Mahomes is helping high school athletes access the exposure and resources they need to chase their dreams, just as he once did.
So even if the Chiefs talisman may be the face of professional football today, he’s adamant that the heart of the game lives where it began for him, under the Friday night lights. Because for all the trophies he’s raised, the one thing he cherishes most is the version of football untouched by fame. The one that’s still just about the love for the game.
