SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Patrick Mahomes, NFL general manager?
It’s not just a dream of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ star quarterback. The likely 2022 NFL MVP actually has actually started laying the very preliminary groundwork for a post-playing career in personnel.
Patrick Mahomes’ Career Plan
At just 27 years of age, Mahomes has another decade-plus of football ahead of him, assuming his health and desire cooperate.
But during a break in his preparation for Super Bowl 57 Tuesday, Mahomes revealed that he plans to remain involved in football at the highest levels whenever it is he hangs it up.
“I’ve always said that when I’m done playing, I might want to go to the GM role,” Mahomes said. “I’ll ask [Chiefs general manager Brett Veach] some stuff. I’ve already hit some [scouts] up. ‘How was the Senior Bowl? How was the East-West Shrine game?’ I like that type of stuff. I like looking at future guys. Not necessarily building our team or anything like that, but I like to see who the good players are and what they think about them.”
Mahomes then suggested his sights are set even higher.
Why not be the biggest boss of a team: The guy who writes the checks?
“Obviously, I would love to [be an NFL owner],” Mahomes said. “I’ve been lucky enough to be in ownership of other sports. I’m going to try to keep climbing that ladder, but I’m going to need a lot more money. I’m going to need to find a way to get some more money. Film more State Farm commercials.”
Mahomes is right. He has a long way to go. Through six NFL seasons, he’s earned $78 million — an unfathomably large sum for 99.9% of Americans, but not nearly enough to even make a down payment for an NFL franchise. According to Forbes, the lowest-valued franchise in the NFL is the Cincinnati Bengals — with an estimated worth of $3 billion.
So even if he plays out the rest of his current contract (it runs another 10 seasons), Mahomes would still be about $2.5 billion short.
A more plausible path to NFL ownership? Leading a consortium of investors to someday buy a team.
Kansas City Chiefs Daily Report
With a two-week break between games, Chiefs coach Andy Reid wanted his team to stay sharp. So he put the pads on for Kansas City’s Monday practice.
“That’s Coach Reid,” Mahomes said. “You do it. We weren’t necessarily expecting the pads. He told us about it last week. We didn’t do that the first year we were at the Super Bowl. He has a reason for the madness. We follow that lead. We know that he knows what he’s doing. That’s the reason we’re in the position we’re in.”
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The Chiefs had full team participation in practice Monday. Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has cleared concussion protocol and is on track to play Sunday.
Reid acknowledged that Mahomes’ high ankle sprain still isn’t 100%. But he praised the job Mahomes and KC’s medical staff have done to get him pretty close.