Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeF
Why don't the refs coddle Mahomes like they do other elite QBs? He's very popular, been to last 2 Super Bowls, Won a SB, Super Bowl MVP, Regular Season MVP, OPOY 2018, Totally dominant for a few years etc.
How much more do they need to prove his value to the league.
Is it just because KC is such a small market?
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I believe refs are judged on blown calls so it really isn't in their interests to coddle any quarterback by supporting them with bad calls. Most of the coddling of quarterbacks that does take place is one by actual NFL players.
One can make the argument that Brady is now coddled on late hits whenever he scrambles because of his age/status. Brady sometimes slides late and players still make superhuman efforts to avoid him. But during regular season I've plenty of NFL players coddle Mahomes when they could have hit him much harder on runs. They probably do not want to be known as someone that possibly ruined Mahomes career on a cheap but legal out of bounds hit. Lamar Jackson until relatively recently was getting very few late hit calls on him but this year he has gotten some of those calls.
The NFL may market its stars a little bit but end of the day, one could get rid of every starting quarterback and the 50 best skill position players after that and within 2-3 years, the ratings would be back to near normal. The same can't be said for the NBA....
In the NFL the product sells itself so there is no reason for the league itself to want to coddle players too much.
That doesn't mean the NFL doesn't want to protect quarterbacks/receivers from injury/concussions...they obviously do since if half of those players end up with brain injuries, it makes the sport look bad. But it is not like irreplaceable star players are truly driving the ratings.
Gambling probably drives the NFL more than anything else and the stars like Mahomes are not needed for folks to be gambling on games.