KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Patrick Mahomes poured himself a large black coffee, opened a sugar packet and poured it in.

As a rookie quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017, Mahomes developed a late-blooming love for caffeine, one born of necessity.

"When you get those Andy Reid installs, man, they're two or three hours at a time and some are late in the day," Mahomes said, grinning, as he explained a typical offensive meeting with the Chiefs coach. "So in those meetings, I wouldn't say I was falling asleep, but I was definitely losing focus ... so I kind of started drinking coffee."

Mahomes' frequent trips to the black-drip machine, along with his ritual of mixing in sugar and anything else that would help the taste, caught the eye of starting quarterback Alex Smith, who warned the

See Full Page