Patrick Mahomes’ long-awaited Texas homecoming at AT&T Stadium
After growing up a Dallas Cowboys fan, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes finally gets his chance to play in their stadium, and on Thanksgiving.
When Patrick Mahomes takes the field on Thanksgiving, he’ll be doing something surprisingly new for a quarterback who already has three Super Bowl MVPs to his name: making his first NFL start at AT&T Stadium, just 90 minutes from the hometown where the legend began.
Mahomes finally gets long-awaited homecoming game
It’s a moment that’s long overdue for a player who grew up a diehard Cowboys fan in Tyler, Texas.
Patrick Mahomes will return to his home state of Texas this week.
— Sports Radio 810 WHB (@SportsRadio810) November 25, 2025
He talks about playing in that stadium and going to watch Cowboys games with his dad as a kid. pic.twitter.com/NOTUzlfmyo
Mahomes has played in Super Bowls, Germany, Mexico City, frigid Arrowhead, frenzied playoff environments, but somehow never on the NFL’s biggest regular-season stage in his home state. The last time he played at this stadium, he was still at Texas Tech, shredding defenses in neutral-site shootouts against Baylor.
This will be Patrick Mahomes' first start in Dallas, the metro area he was born & raised in
— Ron Kopp Jr (@RonOnChiefs) November 24, 2025
It's the last NFL road location he has yet to start in his 9-year career. Incredible it worked out that way #ChiefsKingdom
Mahomes’ outrageous AT&T Stadium college resume
In three games at AT&T Stadium when he was still at Tech, Mahomes averaged:
- 500+ passing yards per game
- Five passing touchdowns per game
- A signature 586-yard, six-touchdown performance in 2016
This one was fun. 🎯
— Texas Tech Red Raiders (@TechAthletics) October 5, 2023
TBT to @PatrickMahomes's final game as a Red Raider. Full game streaming on TexasTech+!@TexasTechFB | https://t.co/KiTVSSfmIt pic.twitter.com/SWThSq6t0r
Those numbers foreshadowed exactly what he would become. Now he returns as the face of the NFL, but for the first time as an NFL starter, wearing Kansas City red in a place where he once sat in the stands wearing Cowboys blue.
The homecoming backdrop is emotional, but the stakes raise everything even higher. The Chiefs enter Thanksgiving at 6–5, fighting to keep multiple historic streaks alive, including 10 straight playoff berths and seven straight AFC Championship appearances. Mahomes has never entered Week 13 with this much pressure.
The Cowboys, sitting at 5–5-1, are similarly desperate, but the building will roar for both sides. Dallas fans will see Mahomes as an opponent. Texas fans will see him as one of their own finally stepping onto his home-state stage.
Mahomes has always spoken fondly of Thanksgiving football and the dream of one day playing in one of the sport’s most iconic time slots. Now he’ll do it in Arlington, in the stadium where he posted video-game numbers before the entire football world knew his name.
He’s returned to Texas many times...but never like this.
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