Patrick Mahomes hadn’t yet turned 5 when the New England Patriots drafted Tom Brady.

He hadn’t yet been born when Brady was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the MLB draft as a catcher out of Junípero Serra High School, either.

“I know, there’s a lot of those guys now,” Brady conceded during his press conference Friday, “and that’s just kind of the reality of being around for a long time. But it’s great to see a lot of young players playing really well. That’s the future of the league, so it’s always great to see young players come in and learn from the guys in the past, just like I did when I was young.”

On Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET, the young and the old, with 2018 cap numbers of $3.733 million and $22 million, respectively, will find themselves on the same field as the 5-0 Kansas City Chiefs visit the 3-2 Patriots.

Mahomes celebrated his 23rd birthday last month. As for Brady, the NFL’s oldest non-kicker and reigning MVP celebrated his 41st in the shadows of Gillette Stadium during training camp – and tossed his 500th career touchdown pass to his 71st different target last week.

An age gap is something the latter has grown accustomed to. New England’s Sept. 9 matchup with the Houston Texans provided another reminder as Brady and Deshaun Watson, then 22, made for the largest difference between opening-day starting quarterbacks in league history.

Now, in comes Mahomes.

Kansas City’s QB is three days younger than Watson. And his head coach at Texas Tech was picked by New England in the sixth round some three springs after Brady was.

“Yeah, I actually watched Tom Brady a good amount in college,” Mahomes told reporters on his Wednesday conference call, via Patriots.com. “My coach in college was Kliff Kingsbury, and he actually was a backup for Brady at one point, and so he showed me things that he liked with Tom and his pocket movements and stuff he did within the pocket that I’ve tried to put in my game a little bit. And he’s someone that’s had a ton of success in this league and is someone that you do take stuff from.”

Mahomes went on to take his rookie season in under current Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith. He’s started a total of six games since entering the league at No. 10 overall.

But Mahomes’ five starts this season have netted him 112 completions over 176 attempts for 1,513 yards and a league-best 14 touchdowns. And as for his only two interceptions of the campaign? Both arrived this past weekend versus the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense.

Mahomes seemed to arrive well before then.

“I’ve seen a lot of highlights,” Brady said of Mahomes. “I haven’t necessarily watched – we just haven’t had common opponents thus far. But he’s obviously got a great skillset. Playing really well, throwing a lot of touchdowns, really distributing the ball and extending plays, making plays on the move outside the pocket. It’s a big test for our defense any time you play a quarterback that can do all those things. It tests your discipline in a lot of areas. We just got to take advantage when we get an opportunity to stop them.”

Discussions regarding the league’s best offense do not go on without the mention of Kansas City. Discussions regarding the league’s next MVP do not go on without the mention of Mahomes.

The Chiefs rank fifth in yards per game and second in points scored thus far, while the new face behind center has thrown for more than 300 yards in four consecutive games and accrued 13 touchdowns through Kansas City’s first three games.

The reasons being are difficult to mimic in scout-team preparations.

“We’re working on those things all the time during practice, after practice,” said Brady. “But I think Pat’s got a great arm. It’s hard to really replicate that. It’s kind of you’re born with something like that.”

The son of former major league pitcher Pat Mahomes Sr. has thrown strikes to the likes of tight end Travis Kelce and wide receivers Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Chris Conley. He has scrambled to hit closing windows outside the play design and across his body, even shoveling one for a first down left-handed.

Mahomes has used his feet to add two more touchdowns on the ground, where last year’s NFL leader in rushing yards, Kareem Hunt, poses run-pass-option problems that the Patriots witnessed firsthand in the 2017 opener.

But Mahomes poses problems that New England didn’t get to see back then.

His counterpart, with 18 years and 252 regular-season appearances on him, will be keeping an eye out Sunday.

“I think quarterbacks are always paying attention to other quarterbacks,” Brady said. “You’re just watching how they’re moving the ball. There’s a lot of different ways to lead your team and move the ball down the field to score points. So, if you can learn things from other players, you’re always trying to. And when your offense is hot and you’re scoring a lot of points, I think everyone is trying to learn from what they’re doing.”