KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It seems long ago that the Kansas City Chiefs had to teach Patrick Mahomes a few of the quarterback basics when he joined them in 2017 as a 21-year-old rookie out of the spread offensive system at Texas Tech.
Mahomes had to learn how to call a play in the huddle, something he hadn't done with the Red Raiders, who sent plays in from the sideline to all 11 offensive players. He didn't know the proper stance to use when taking a snap from center, something that was also new to him after he played in the shotgun formation at Texas Tech.
"We had to work on those little things individually," offensive coordinator Matt Nagy recalled.
Eight seasons, two MVP awards and three Super Bowl championships later, the Chiefs and Mahomes no longer need to worry about those fundamentals. He's transitioned into an accomplished veteran who is perhaps closer to the end of his career than he is to those raw, early days filled with learning the basics.
Mahomes turns 30 on Sept. 17, three days after the Chiefs play against the Philadelphia Eagles in a Week 2 game. The thought of such an event recently had him in a reflective mood.
"It's been a fun run," Mahomes said. "We've had a lot of great players in this building, a lot of great people and so it makes it enjoyable to come to work every single day. I still have some guys with me that have been there the whole time and then adding new guys gives you a new juice and a new spirit to go out there and be even better.
"There are a lot of young guys now so just trying to relate to them as much as I can but at the same time, I'm still not 30 yet so I feel like I can for at least right now."
Mahomes' instant success once he became a starter in 2018 made it seem like he joined the Chiefs as a finished product. That season he threw for more than 5,000 yards and 50 touchdown passes, was named league MVP and guided the Chiefs to their first AFC Championship Game in 25 years.
Before that, when he was a rookie backup to Alex Smith in 2017, he received plenty of instruction on fundamentals many quarterbacks take for granted.
"He was yelling his first play into the huddle," Nagy said of Mahomes' early practice sessions. "The defense could hear the play. We had to tell him to chill out and then his ankles were touching on a snap under center. He was all (excited) so his ankles were touching. Your ankles don't touch when you take a snap under center.
"All that stuff's easy now.''
Running back Kareem Hunt noticed an immediate difference in Mahomes when he returned to the Chiefs last season after five years with the Cleveland Browns. Hunt began his NFL career with the Chiefs at the same time as Mahomes in 2017 before being released midway through the following season, Mahomes' first as a starter.
"Just how much he knows the system now and just seeing how he's able to recognize defenses and call the plays on the fly if he needs to,'' Hunt said. "He's grown a lot in that aspect.''
Gardner Minshew, in his first season as a backup quarterback in Kansas City, joined the Chiefs in part because he wanted to see how Mahomes gets himself ready for a season, a practice and a game behind the scenes.
"It's easy to see all the highlight plays, the big throws and stuff, and obviously you see that every day on the practice field,'' Minshew said. "It's really cool, but seeing how he prepares, I think that's one of the things that I really wanted to come here and see. How does he prepare not only in the building? How does he get his body right? How does he train? I think he does everything at the elite highest level and there's just so much to take from that.
"It's crazy watching him every day. It's been really cool watching how he prepares, how he takes notes, how he approaches practice, how he has fun with football.''
Mahomes may be a role model now for younger quarterbacks, but he wasn't when he started his NFL career, not with so many of the fundamentals to learn. For his part, he is amused by those memories, however necessary those lessons might have been.
Through age and experience, he's picked up a few other items as well, things that might help prolong a career that is now no longer in its infant stages.
"More than anything I have a better understanding of my body,'' Mahomes said. "I know the extra amount of recovery stuff I need to do, how to feel my best on a day-to-day basis. Obviously I probably bounced back a little bit quicker when I was younger but at the same time, I have a better plan and a better standard that I hold myself to on a day-to-day basis so I can be ready for every single practice."