Why Did Multiple NFL Franchises Pass on Patrick Mahomes at the 2017 NFL Draft? Insight Into His College Career

It is one of the long-standing trends in the NFL that the teams miss evaluate some of the greatest quarterbacks when they enter the league draft. Patrick Mahomes is a victim of one such situation who gradually unlocked the fortune of the Kansas City Chiefs in the pro-football league.

If there was a chance to reset the past, then Patrick Mahomes would have been unanimously taken up as the No 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft. However, his abilities were highly undervalued, which led the Chiefs to steal him as the No 10 Overall pick.

With just five seasons in the NFL, he has already established himself as a generational talent, and fair to speculate him as a future HOFer.

A total of nine teams passed on Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 draft class. There were quarterback-needy teams like Cleveland Brown and Chicago Bears waiting for an opportunity to sign a significant quarterback.  And missed out on one of the greatest talents in modern NFL.

Despite having incredible college stats, he didn’t make the priority list. One of the major questions was regarding his footwork, his gunslinger mentality, and how often he played out a structure that probably made all of those teams pass on.

What was the potential reason behind Patrick Mahomes being denied an earlier pick?

Even though Patrick Mahomes boasts of individual college records, teamwork is quite essential for a quarterback. Something which he lacked in his college. He had a losing record in college from 2014 to 2016 and a style of play that had proven risky. This was a major red flag for a lot of scouts and inhibited teams from envisioning his future.

Moreover, his defense was the worst in the country. They allowed 43 and a half points per game, 128th out of the 128 FPS teams, and that heavily affected how he played.

Lack of Defense in college; always overplaying Mahomes!

He knew he had to score just about every possession, which forced him to constantly take shots downfield. In eight of the 12 games in his final season, his defense gave up 45 points or more. So he was practically forced to play in an unconventional fashion, which for better or worse played to his strengths.

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Having a fragile defense is always a matter of worry. As a result, he was the most pressured QB in the country. Thus, he had to constantly move around dodge, duck, dip & dive on the field. Even today looking at his gameplay, it seems he is allergic to his offensive unit. He tends to scramble players across the field and push himself deep for a touchdown.

Even though it’s not a great technique, it proves effective for the quarterback. Mahomes won the MVP award within a few years of starting in the NFL. He became the youngest QB to win a Super Bowl in 2020. Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, and Cleveland Browns were the ones to sideline him from the top nine spots in 2017. Today, he is rewriting history by sticking with the Chiefs for the next eight seasons.

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