Who is this guy?’: Inside the incredible story of how NFL powerhouse hit $691m jackpot

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach still remembers the first time he laid eyes on Patrick Mahomes; although he wasn’t supposed to be watching the Texas Tech quarterback.

Heck, Veach — then co-director of player personnel at the Chiefs — didn’t even know Mahomes was a prospect.

He was supposed to be watching tape of a Texas Tech left tackle ahead of the 2017 draft. But he couldn’t stop his eyes from following No.5 instead.

The way Mahomes, a former shortstop and son of a major league baseball player, threw with the velocity and accuracy of an infielder.

The way Mahomes could access throws from all kinds of angles and to all kinds of windows, even when playing off-script as the pocket collapsed around him.

All of a sudden you’re down this rabbit hole trying to watch every throw from a quarterback that really wasn’t on your plan for the day,” Veach said.

“As you’re watching the tackle you’re saying, ‘Oh, that was a pretty cool throw’. Like, ‘Who is this guy?’. You’re googling the Texas Tech roster and then you’re looking for number five. Who is number five? Patrick Mahomes. Wow.

Veach was saying all of this on ESPN Originals’ ‘The Kingdom’ documentary — a six-part series following Kansas City’s pursuit of a three-peat, all the way from the very start when the Chief stumbled across their franchise quarterback.

Although not everyone saw the vision.

Others didn’t see the beauty in Mahomes’ improvisation. They saw recklessness. They saw a quarterback with poor mechanics who may struggle to replicate his success from Texas Tech’s system to the NFL.

“People didn’t know how to scout Patrick Mahomes because he played this crazy, inventive, non-traditional style of football,” Peter King, formerly of Sports Illustrated, said on Episode 1 of the docuseries.

In fact, Mahomes’ agent Chris Cabott later said that one coach from a rival NFL team told him he wanted to “take a shot at greatness” but that he couldn’t get his front office on board.

“Because they were scared,” Cabott said.

But Veach? He wasn’t afraid to take the highest upside swing of the draft, with the Chiefs going on to trade up to take Mahomes 10th overall.

When Chiefs coach Andy Reid walked over and asked Veach what he was doing that first time he watched Mahomes’ tape, the now Kansas City GM was emphatic from the very start.

By draft night Veach had Reid and the Chiefs front office on board. This was his guy. But as if he needed anymore convincing, his daughter gave him one final reason to not falter from his belief in No.5.

“My daughter, who’s a teenager now but was younger at the time, she’s always asking me at a younger age about my job and what I do,” Veach said.

“I think her vision of the job was to write people’s names down and just pull them out of a hat.

“I wasn’t a super big football movie guy, but I think everybody watched Draft Day. We had watched that movie weeks prior to the Draft, and so she did see that one part where Costner’s character had the name written down.

“I was just getting ready to leave, and she hands me the card. It said, ‘Pat no matter what.’ There’s nothing more special than your daughter writing that.”

So, it was Pat no matter what and after trading up 17 spots to get him despite having veteran Alex Smith still on the roster, the Chiefs got their quarterback.

Three Super Bowls and two MVP awards followed, while in 2020 Mahomes signed a 10-year contract extension worth over $450 million ($A691m) that was one of the largest in sports history.

“Looking back on it, we had the smallest of windows to execute something that would completely change the landscape of, not just the NFL, but — more importantly — this city and the community,” Veach said.

“It’s hard to believe that it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

The first two episodes of ‘The Kingdom’ aired with ESPN on Kayo Sports on Saturday the 16th of August, with episodes three and fourth available to stream on the 21st and the final two episodes released the following day on the 22nd.

You can follow Kansas City’s journey towards a three-peat and go behind the scenes of the heartbreak after the Super Bowl LIX loss with ESPN on Kayo Sports.