Jimmy Fallon had Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes on The Tonight Show for the first time on Monday to talk about his new foundation.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was a guest for the first time on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night for a quick segment to discuss the NFL sensation’s first year as a starter and his new foundation.
Mahomes only had a handful of minutes on late night TV, but he made the most of it by paying homage to teammates and former teammates and announcing the launch of his new charitable foundation, 15 & The Mahomies.
You can watch the entire segment here:
If you want the bulk of the transcript, you can check out the following. Fallon first asks him about having to sit out his first year and what challenges it posed. It’s clear that Mahomes doesn’t want to ever break ranks from what he’s said before and that he sincerely wants to honor his predecessor, Alex Smith, even a year later.
“The first season, I don’t want to say it was frustrating,” said Mahomes. “As a competitor, you want to play. I was blessed to be put in a great situation with Alex Smith in front of me—the greatest dude, the greatest teammates, one of the the greatest leaders I’ve ever met. He was someone that taught me a ton. He taught me a lot. It showed off this last season where I was able to jump in there, kind of take off where he left it off, and I had a lot of teammates that made me look really well.”
Fallon then switched subjects to the postseason loss to the New England Patriots and the rumor that Tom Brady had gone to see Mahomes in the locker room. Fallon asked him what he said, and Mahomes described the scene.
“There in all the excitement. They won the game and we were walking off the field after that heartbreaking loss at home, I didn’t talk to him after the game,” said Mahomes. “And so when I was in the locker room—I was about to walk out actually—he came in and got the security to let him in. He kinda said, ‘Man you had a heckuva season.’ He knows what it’s like to win a lot of big games and knows what it’s like to lose some big games—not many, but a few. So he just said, ‘you gotta keep grinding.’ He said he loved the way I played. It was awesome for him to do that and show that class at such an exciting moment.”
Finally, Fallon asks him about his new foundation, which is likely why the timing to even appear on late night came up in the first place. Just two weeks ago, our own Farzin Vousoughian had Mahomes’ agent Leigh Steinberg on his podcast to discuss the launch of 15 & The Mahomies and got the inside scoop. Mahomes then revealed it on TV after being asked by Fallon about it.
“I’m lucky enough to have a platform to start a foundation called 15 & The Mahomies. It’s a foundation that’s designed all around kids, kids from either underserved communities that don’t get the same opportunities that I had whenever I was young or kids who are in the hospital that have chronic illnesses or have suffered major injuries. Those kids are the ones who train harder than me by 100 times every single day, and I want to make sure I can give back to them in any shape in any way to give them the resources they need to have an amazing life.”
While the site has more news to announce, it looks like there’s already an upcoming way to spend an evening with Mahomes in the works. There are also links to donate up and running.