Patrick Mahomes entered the N.F.L. with all the gravitas of a fifth grader playing touch football at recess. He escaped from the pocket like Houdini and contorted himself like Gumby, whipping the ball around as if he thought the game was supposed to be fun, not just the rote execution of a militaristic offensive scheme.
He was just 22 at the start of his first full season as the Kansas City Chiefs’ starting quarterback. Today, after five Pro Bowl selections, a Super Bowl victory and a Most Valuable Player Award, Mahomes somehow still seems 22: He remains exuberant and unrehearsed, the player to watch on Sunday when Kansas City meets Philadelphia in the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.