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Chiefs pay high price to trade up for Patrick Mahomes, and his Brett Favre-like skills
PHILADELPHIA — Ever since Andy Reid left Green Bay to take the Philadelphia Eagles’ head-coaching job, he has been hunting for the next Brett Favre.
Of course, we know there might only be one Favre. But if there’s anything close to Favre in the 2017 NFL draft, it’s Patrick Mahomes. The Kansas City Chiefs trading up — way up — to get Mahomes should indicate quite clearly how Andy Reid must view the Texas Tech quarterback. Reid has never made this bold a trade up for QB, and the Chiefs never have either.
Let’s be clear here: Favre was a mess when he got to the NFL and needed hard coaching. But he had things you can’t teach, such as a rocket arm and the fearlessness some of the greats at that position had. Mahomes is very much a work in progress, but he ran a highly prolific offense in college at Texas Tech and has the potential to add the big-play pass back to the Chiefs’ offense that it has lacked with Alex Smith the starter.
(And nothing against Donovan McNabb, who was a very good quarterback for a long time, but Mahomes might have a higher ceiling, believe it or not. Of course, he also has a much lower floor.)
Let’s not knock Smith too much. He has been a very solid option for Reid. Smith helped turn this team around from the doldrums. But in order to take the next step offensively, the Chiefs need a young option to have ready in the bullpen when the time to make a switch is needed. It might not be that far off, but Reid has steadfastly said Smith will be his starter this season. We’ll see if his tune changes at all.
But this is just such a wild move for Chiefs fans, who have not seen the franchise draft a quarterback in the first round since 1983 (Todd Blackledge before Dan Marino, remember?) and have grown tired of Smith. Many of these fans were so forlorn about the lack of hope at the position that theories about a Hunt family edict existing that prohibited the team from drafting a QB this high.
Of course, it never was that way. But with the Mahomes deal, everything is different now for Reid and the Chiefs.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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