patrick mahomes (Via X)
The Chiefs selected Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft after trading up for him. He finally started the Week 17 game against the Denver Broncos on December 31, 2017, after Kansas City had already secured the AFC West. Mahomes completed 22 of 35 passes for 284 yards and one interception in the Chiefs’ 27-24 victory.
Patrick Mahomes has built one of the NFL’s strongest commercial profiles, but his business interests now go beyond advertisements. His portfolio includes sports ownership, investments and partnerships that have helped turn his name into a business brand away from the Chiefs. However, Andy Reid kept Alex Smith as the starter, leaving Mahomes with just one appearance during his first season.
That decision looks very different today.
In an ESPN report published on June 4, 2018, Mahomes’ agent Leigh Steinberg explained that the team wanted the young quarterback to first settle into the Chiefs’ environment. Forbes lists him among the NFL’s most commercially successful athletes in 2026. Patrick Mahomes joined the Kansas City Current ownership group in 2022 alongside his wife, Brittany Mahomes, becoming the first active NFL player to hold equity in an NWSL team.
“We intentionally didn’t do endorsements that would run in the Kansas City area even though they were offered,” Steinberg told ESPN. That limited playing time shaped his approach to endorsements. “We didn’t want him to be on billboards and everything when he wasn’t even playing. But Patrick Mahomes eventually pushed the strategy further. Instead of simply earning money from brands, he began taking ownership stakes and investing in businesses. His portfolio has included the Kansas City Royals, Sporting Kansas City, the Kansas City Current and the Alpine F1 team, while he has also invested in companies such as Hyperice and Whoop. His connection to Kansas City has grown with that portfolio. So, the rookie-year decision was not simply about rejecting endorsement money. Mahomes and his team wanted football to establish his value first. Almost a decade later, that patience has helped shape a brand that now reaches far beyond the Chiefs and the NFL.