How Old Was Patrick Mahomes When He Got Drafted

So you’re here because you need a little math help, right? Or maybe you’re a Chiefs fan trying to settle a bet with your buddy at the bar. Let’s cut through the noise: Patrick Mahomes was exactly 22 years and 128 days old when he got drafted in 2017.

That’s right—barely old enough to legally rent a car in some states, but somehow ready to rewrite the NFL history books. The guy was the fourth quarterback taken, behind Mitchell Trubisky (who was 22 years and 239 days) and Deshaun Watson (also 22). But Mahomes? He was practically a toddler by NFL standards.

Let’s put that age into perspective. At 22, most of us are still eating ramen, dodging student loans, and arguing about who left the milk out. Mahomes, meanwhile, was about to walk into an NFL facility in Kansas City with a rocket arm and a beard that made him look like he’d been playing catch with George Washington.

The “Baby” of the 2017 Class

He wasn’t just young—he was the youngest quarterback in that entire draft class. Think about that. Teams passed on him because he played at Texas Tech, which is like being the valedictorian of clown college. They worried his “no-look passes” were a fluke.

Spoiler alert: they weren’t. By the time he was 23, he was bench-pressing Super Bowl rings. At 24, he signed a contract worth half a billion dollars—which is more money than most of us will see in twelve lifetimes, and about the same as the GDP of a small island nation.

The forgotten hero who drafted Patrick Mahomes despite ridicule to lay

And here’s the kicker: he didn’t even start his rookie season. Andy Reid made him sit behind Alex Smith for a year. Imagine being a 22-year-old with a cannon for an arm, forced to watch someone else play quarterback. That’s like buying a Ferrari and letting your grandpa drive it to the grocery store for a year.

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For the record, Tom Brady was 23 when he got drafted in the sixth round—a fact that still makes NFL GMs wake up in cold sweats. Mahomes was younger than that. He was basically a veteran compared to some raw rookies, though. For example, Josh Allen was 21 when the Bills grabbed him in 2018, and he still throws like he’s trying to dent the moon.

But here’s the wild part: Mahomes was actually older than most rookies in NFL history. Wait, what? Yes, the average draft age is around 21. So Mahomes was practically a senior citizen in draft terms. Yet he played like a teenager hopped up on Gatorade and chaos.

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It’s almost like age is just a number when you’re Patrick Mahomes. Remember, he was also 22 when he threw that famous left-handed pass against the 49ers. Who does that? A guy who’s too young to know he’s not supposed to do that, that’s who.

The Surprising Fact You’ll Use at Parties

If you want to sound smart, drop this bombshell: Mahomes was born on September 17, 1995. That means he graduated high school in 2014, spent three years at Texas Tech, and still landed in the NFL at an age when most of us were still figuring out how to do our own laundry.

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His 22nd birthday came before the 2017 season started. So technically, he turned 22 as a rookie. That’s like becoming a legal adult just in time to face Von Miller. Von Miller was 28 at the time—old enough to be Mahomes’s slightly angry older brother.

Now here we are, years later, and Mahomes is still young enough to have his entire prime ahead of him. At 29, he’s already won three Super Bowls. If he keeps this up, he’ll retire with a beard so long it’ll have its own Wikipedia page.

So, how old was he when drafted? Ancient by baby standards, but a baby by NFL standards. And that’s the magic of Patrick Mahomes: he’s been making history since before he could legally rent a car.