Welcome to the first of at least 1 million words written up about the draft stock of Patrick Mahomes II.
Patrick Mahomes II is a big enigma for the 2017 NFL draft. He puts up big numbers but is that because he’s talented or because he plays in a run and shoot offense in a conference that doesn’t play a lick of defense?
And when you put on the tape of Mahomes, he makes some amazing throws on the run with a flick of his wrist and then he botches up some very easy throws that should be made by every passer.
Mechanically, Mahomes is pretty sound. He has a nice clean delivery without any sort of hitch and good arm talent. And he sometimes makes throws which have jaw dropping placement. Then in the next play, he one hops the ball to a wide open wideout in the flats.
One thing that he consistently struggles with is ball placement when he goes deep. He’s made his career at Texas Tech as a quick passing thrower and deep balls are far from his strength.
Much like Mason Rudolph and any number of spread/veer offense quarterbacks, their lack of arm strength is hidden by the quick reads and 4-5 receiving targets out on the same play.
There’s arm talent to work with here with Mahomes. A smart team will stash and teach him. A dumb one is going to think that he can start as a rookie.
What really worries me is that that offense he plays in is telling him to find an open wideout in 3 seconds and go to the hot read or try to run with the ball if no one is open.
This needs to be taught out of him if he’s going to have any chance of making it in the NFL.
Draft Grade: late 4th
There’s just too much risk here. There’s been a ton of college quarterbacks who’ve put up big numbers like Mahomes has done in a gimmicky offense. And while his mechanics are pro ready, I don’t think that his football IQ or deep ball is at the same level.