Untold stories from Patrick Mahomes' rookie season - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — To the larger football world, Patrick Mahomes burst onto the scene in 2018 in a spectacular way by throwing for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns and winning the MVP award in his first season as a starter.

Mahomes spent his rookie season mostly hidden from public view as a backup to Alex Smith until the Kansas City Chiefs rested their starters in the final game of the regular season against the Denver Broncos.

But Mahomes' burgeoning talent wasn't a big surprise to his teammates and coaches.

In Derrick Johnson and Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Eric Berry, the Chiefs had a group of defensive players who combined for 17 Pro Bowls and five first-team All-Pro selections. But in 2017, they had seen nothing like the quarterback who played against them each day in practice.

«We were in awe of what he was doing,» Johnson said. «We'd sit around talking about the throws he made on us in practice. We'd all talk about how he got us with this play or that play.

»When it came time for the Broncos game, we all had our popcorn ready. We were sitting there saying, 'Watch this,' or 'Look at this.' We were starstruck when it came to the talent he had. There was no way he could throw the passes he could throw and not be successful."

Everyone who spent time around Mahomes during his rookie season has a story, when his star was beginning to rise. As the reigning MVP and two-time Super Bowl champion begins his seventh season on Thursday against the Detroit Lions (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), here are just a few of those tales.

Demetrius Harris, a backup tight end for the Chiefs at the time, is the answer to the trivia question: Who caught Patrick Mahomes' first career completion? Mahomes had thrown incompletions on the first two plays