Time and again, Patrick Mahomes expressed just how much Alex Smith meant to him as a person and as a mentor. From training to handling the family, Smith showed Mahomes the ropes of not on the NFL, but also his married life. The Kansas City Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid took to the SiriusXM NFL Radio and revealed everything from behind the scenes. In fact, the coach just asked Mahomes to splurge a fat check on his former mentor.

“He was great with Patrick. I didn’t ask him to mentor Patrick although he let Patrick into his world because he’s a good dude and Patrick owes him like a new house,” said Reed about Mahomes and Alex Smith’s relationship on SiriusXM NFL Radio. Mahomes waited for a year before he finally got his chance to play and when he got that chance, he flipped the NFL upside down.

As it happened, Alex Smith was just sitting across Andy Reid with a mic in his hand and didn’t know that he was going to be lauded by his former head coach. The host of the show wanted to know just what Alex Smith did to mentor the 3x Super Bowl winner and the Kansas City Chiefs head coach didn’t shy away from showering praises.

“He taught Patrick how to be a pro, how to train during the season, these long seasons, how to be a good husband. Patrick didn’t have kids at the time but how you take care of your kids, and you juggle that part, how to study, put the time in,” Andy Reid shared.

“It takes tremendous amount of time to capture all the verbiage that we have for each play and be able to spit it out in that short period of time. So, all those things, Patrick goes to him and then he [Alex Smith] goes out and has the best season of his career.”

Clearly, Alex Smith’s influence on Patrick Mahomes extended way beyond the football field. Smith’s last season in KC was his best one. Smith amassing 4,042 and 26 touchdowns in his season best might have given a confidence boost to Patrick Mahomes as well. Smith left for Washington for the following season, and it was Mahomes’ turn to take the KC reins.

Having a 5k yard season with 50 TDs as a rookie is something unheard of. Mahomes instantly drew comparisons with the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. And why now? Mahomes, Brady and Drew Brees are the only QBs in the league to have multiple 5k yard seasons in their careers.

Every time Mahomes wins a Super Bowl, he makes sure that he gives the credit where it’s due.

Patrick Mahomes pays homage to Alex Smith

At just 24 years old, Mahomes was that the pinnacle of his NFL career when he won his first Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers. The game ended 31-20 in the Chiefs favor and expressed that he just improved upon the “winning culture” that Smith had left behind.

“He texted me right after the game, saying he enjoyed it just as much as we did,” Mahomes told ESPN after that Super Bowl win. “He wasn’t there, but he was part of it — I think that’s the biggest thing. He built the culture that I came into. He was the guy that led the team to all these successful seasons and built that winning culture.”

But that’s not it. It was 2023 when Mahomes went against the Philadelphia Eagles and beat Jalen Hurts’ team 38-35. That year, the 3x Super Bowl winner expressed how he just taught the rookies how to maintain the culture and had Travis Kelce and Chris Jones’ help in doing so.

“I’ve always vocally talked but I had to take the next step in my leadership ability of how I showed guys how we work and how I couldn’t let the little stuff slide because we have such great players around me that have done it for so long. I had to teach the culture that we have here, that I learned from Alex Smith and Derrick Johnson,” Mahomes said.

If you still need proof about how much Alex Smith means to the Kansas City Chiefs star, Mahomes made sure to give Smith a shoutout before the KC team proceeded to play against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game in the last season.

“I think it just comes from the guys before me,” he said on Wednesday. “I mean, Alex Smith is the prime example. He was playing great football at [a] top level — and he was teaching me at the same time.”

So maybe Andy Reid is right. Patrick Mahomes might need to break the bank and get Alex Smith the gift of a lifetime. Buying a house shouldn’t be a big deal for Patrick Mahomes anyways.