NFL Draft 2017: Would Chiefs really avoid a first-round quarterback?
By Matt Conner
Let’s allow for Matt Miller’s aforementioned scenario to be correct for a minute. Let’s avoid automatic denial and allow the scene to play out. What if the Chiefs went for a player in the front seven in the first round, putting in a draft card that reads “Haason Reddick” or “Reuben Foster” instead of “Patrick Mahomes”?
While it would be surprising to fans and NFL analysts, and would undoubtedly draw the ire of diehard fans for the next several months, there could actually be some solace taken in the fact that John Dorsey and his staff might actually know what they are doing. There are men whose jobs, whose very livelihoods are on the line by making this choice. If they reject a quarterback, could it be that they know they are all busts?
Think back to the 2013 NFL Draft. Many, many Chiefs fans were calling on the team to take a flyer on a quarterback and many wanted Kansas City to invest a high pick as well. If your memory is accurate, you will remember common calls for the Chiefs to consider Geno Smith in the first round. The rest of that class: Tyler Wilson, Mike Glennon, Matt Barkley, Ryan Nassib, EJ Manuel, Zac Dysert, Landry Jones. You could now land almost any of these quarterbacks for a slice of pizza, and not a single player on that list should instill confidence at the position. Sorry, Bears fans.
Sometimes there is not a single franchise quarterback in the bunch, because the position is just that hard to play. The myriad intangibles. The total physical package. The ability to process an infinite amount of details and to know those details for everyone else. For every Dak Prescott that rises to the occasion, there are dozens of others who flame out.
If Dorsey avoids Mahomes on draft night, it’s because Dorsey spoke to him, watched every ounce of his film, analyzed his mechanics, quizzed his high school and college coaches, observed his workouts and still came away and simply didn’t think it was worth the investment. In fact, he’d stake his job on it. That’s more than any of us can say, which means whether Miller is correct or not, the best we can do is trust John Dorsey in the end—no matter what, or who, he decides on.