Quote:
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/07/10/d...fl-andy-benoit
There have been 79 quarterbacks drafted with a top-20 pick since 1970. Only one of those QBs, Peyton Manning, has been name first-team All-Pro more than once. And only five others have earned the honor even once: Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Jim Kelly, Bert Jones and Terry Bradshaw.
As a huge fan of Mahomes and said so on January 3rd, Chiefsplanet has, of course, placed ridiculously high expectations on a 21 year old that's never played under center and needs at least 18 months to grow into the position.
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Troy Aikman was the number one draft pick in 1989, if I recall correctly, and in 1993 he was selected first-team All-Pro with Steven Young. In addition, Aikman led the Cowboys to three Super Bowls in four years.
As a Texas Tech alum, supporter and donor, I watched Mahomes for three years. This young man displays eerily similar leadership traits that we saw with Aikman in his early days with Dallas.
I'll agree that the KC faithful have placed some pretty high expectations on Mahomes, but then again, so did we at Tech. This young man thrives and grows exponentially in direct proportion to the challenges he is handed.
I'm not going to bash Alex Smith as I don't think--regardless of what anyone in the Chiefs' front office may have said or inferred--that he was hired to take the Chiefs to the Promised Land, but rather to the water's edge, ie the playoffs.
In contrast, I fully believe that Mahomes was drafted and hired to take the Chiefs' to the Mountain Top and keep them there long enough for Kansas City to add the word "Dynasty" to their history. Almost all of the characters are in place.
2017 is a toss-up. He (Mahomes) might get a lot of snaps during the regular season and he might not. But 2018 is going to be a barn-burner, because as we saw and watched at Tech, his sophomore season was three times better than his freshmen season, and you've all seen the highlights from his junior season--even better than his sophomore season.
Bear in mind that his improvement came at the hands of young rookie and inexperienced coaches. He doesn't have that holding his talent level back at KC. He's got some of the best there is bringing him along.
Regards,
JD