Patrick Mahomes's paper Rated Rookie, #327 in 2017 Donruss, came out on August 2, 2017, before his first NFL season.
Donruss that year had 400 cards, with fifty Rated Rookies and fifty Rookies among them. A hobby box held twenty-four packs of ten, with an autograph, a memorabilia card and twenty-four Rated Rookies.
The photograph is posed, from the league's Rookie Premiere. He wears no helmet, only the red Chiefs jersey, number 15, the ball cocked behind his ear as if to throw, his eyes lifted, with stadium lights against a blue sky behind him. The RATED ROOKIE logo sits at the upper left, bands of blue and white run along the sides, and PATRICK MAHOMES II and KANSAS CITY CHIEFS sit at the bottom beside the Donruss D.
No helmet, the ball cocked, and the whole career still ahead.
Panini used the same picture again for the Optic version that December.
He threw 50 touchdown passes the next season and was the league's Most Valuable Player, the first of two.
