Patrick Mahomes has been one of the best players in NFL history during his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. He has apparently far exceeded Kirk Herbstreit’s expectations, who didn’t necessarily predict greatness for the former Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback.
Patrick Mahomes Exceeded Kirk Herbstreit’s Expectations in NFL Career with Chiefs
Herbstreit currently serves as the commentator for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, alongside play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. Long before calling the game for the NFL, Herbstreit spent three decades covering college football. He still remains a booth and studio analyst for weekly college football games today.
He recently sat down for an interview to discuss several topics around the league, including the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. He was asked if there were ever any prospects that really surprised him in the NFL by being much better than he anticipated, and he specifically mentioned Mahomes as one who jumps out the most.
“I could go back to Mahomes. He’s the most obvious one. I’ve covered college football for 30 years, and if you would have told me that he was going to be ‘that’ when he was at Texas Tech … I thought he would be a good player, but I never really imagined him becoming what he is. He’s the most obvious one to me,” explained Herbstreit.
Herbstreit wasn’t the only one who had this opinion of the Texas Tech star, who was selected tenth in the 2017 NFL Draft. He wasn’t even the first quarterback off the board as the Chicago Bears picked Mitch Trubisky at second overall. If any of those nine teams knew what Mahomes would blossom into, they almost definitely would have picked him.
He has already won three Super Bowl rings and five AFC Championships during his career with the Chiefs. He was named the MVP of all three of those victories, to go with his two regular-season MVP awards as well. He achieved all of this in just his first seven years as a starter, with four of them including finishes among the top-two quarterbacks in PFSN’s Impact Rankings.
He appears to already be a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, despite likely still having many years to improve his case even more. Herbstreit admitted that he thought the Chiefs were getting a good quarterback when they drafted him, but never would have imagined that he would quickly place himself among the all-time legends of the game.
