When Alex Smith sat down for his first long-form interview in months, no one expected him to open the curtain on one of the NFL’s most fascinating behind-the-scenes stories — the rise of Patrick Mahomes. Smith, the veteran quarterback who once guided the Kansas City Chiefs before handing over the reins to a young, unproven kid from Texas Tech, has finally spoken about what Mahomes was really like in his rookie year. And what he revealed wasn’t about flashy arm strength, record-breaking plays, or highlight reels. It was about humility, obsession, and the kind of quiet discipline that very few saw — the true foundation of greatness.
Smith recalled that back in 2017, when Mahomes was just 22 years old, he didn’t behave like a typical first-round pick. “You expect rookies to come in with confidence, maybe even a bit of swagger,” Smith said. “Patrick came in with a notebook.” Every single practice, Mahomes would sit next to Smith, writing down every read, every check, every small coaching point Andy Reid made. “He’d fill pages like he was preparing for a final exam,” Smith added. “It wasn’t just about learning the playbook. He wanted to understand how to think like a quarterback in this system, how to see the field the way veterans do.”
But perhaps the most shocking detail wasn’t how hard Mahomes studied — it was how he handled failure. Smith remembered a specific preseason practice where Mahomes threw three interceptions in one session. “Most young quarterbacks get frustrated, try to prove themselves with the next throw,” Smith said. “Patrick went silent. He walked off the field, stayed behind when everyone left, and asked the video staff for the tape. He watched that entire practice three times that night.” The next morning, Mahomes was at the facility before sunrise. By the time the coaches arrived, he had already written corrections for each mistake, including alternate reads for different coverages. “That’s when I knew,” Smith said quietly. “This kid isn’t normal.”
Behind closed doors, Smith described Mahomes as unusually respectful, never stepping out of line, even though he knew he was being groomed as the future franchise quarterback. “There was zero ego,” Smith emphasized. “I’d come to the meeting room, and he’d already have coffee ready for the coaches. He treated everyone — from the equipment guys to Andy Reid — with the same respect.” This culture of humility, Smith believes, became the defining element of Mahomes’s leadership style years later. “He leads not because he demands it,” Smith said. “He leads because people trust the way he works.”
Andy Reid, who at the time was balancing mentorship and team strategy, often credited Smith for mentoring Mahomes, but Smith now insists that Mahomes’s development came from his own hunger. “You can’t teach that kind of drive,” he said. “You can show someone the door, but they have to walk through it. Patrick sprinted through it.”
Smith also revealed something very few people outside the Chiefs organization knew: during that 2017 season, when Smith was still the starter, Mahomes would quietly stay behind after every game and rewatch all of Smith’s snaps — not his own — trying to predict what he would have done differently. “He wasn’t trying to replace me,” Smith said. “He was trying to learn from me, and at the same time, he was building his own language with the offense. That balance is rare.”
When Mahomes finally got the call to take over in 2018, the transition seemed seamless from the outside. But Smith remembered how emotional that moment was in private. “He came to me, thanked me, and said, ‘I’ll never forget what you taught me.’ I told him, ‘You don’t owe me anything. You earned it.’”
The following season, Mahomes exploded onto the scene with over 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, securing an MVP award. But according to Smith, none of it surprised him. “People saw an overnight superstar,” Smith said. “What they didn’t see were the nights he slept in the facility, the times he refused to go home until he perfected a throw, the days he practiced footwork alone in an empty locker room.”
Smith also shared how Mahomes’s leadership transformed the Chiefs locker room. “He brought a new kind of energy,” Smith explained. “Not the loud, rah-rah type — it was quiet confidence. He’d walk in and everyone felt the standard rise a little higher. He made you want to be better just by being there.”
Years later, after Super Bowl victories and record contracts, Smith says he still sees the same rookie he met back in 2017. “He hasn’t changed,” he said. “Fame didn’t touch him. He still texts me before every season, still asks questions, still looks for ways to improve. That’s how you know he’s special — the great ones never think they’re done learning.”
When asked if he ever imagined Mahomes becoming the face of the league, Smith smiled. “You hope for it,” he said. “But you can never predict someone who changes the game. He’s not just a generational talent. He’s a generational student. And that’s what sets him apart.”
Smith’s reflections serve as a reminder that greatness is never an accident. It’s not luck, it’s not hype, and it’s not even pure talent. It’s the result of discipline, humility, and the relentless pursuit of mastery — traits that Mahomes carried with him long before the trophies and lights.
As Smith put it in his closing line, “Everyone saw the arm. I saw the heart.”
Those seven words echo far beyond the locker room. Because for Patrick Mahomes, the story of greatness didn’t begin under the lights of Arrowhead Stadium — it began in the quiet hours after practice, when no one was watching, and a young quarterback refused to be ordinary.
