Top 10 all-time draft picks by Kansas City Chiefs
1. Patrick Mahomes
The Chiefs selected their franchise quarterback and likely future mega-star Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. It was a watershed moment for a franchise that hadn’t drafted a first round quarterback since Todd Blackledge in 1983. If you’re counting, that’s 34 years. That’s a long time for a fan base to lack a homegrown quarterback.
Call me biased all you want, but with how incredible Mahomes’ first season was, it’s not crazy to think he could wind up being the greatest individual football player of all time. It’s still way too early to be sure, but there are several sound reasons why it could happen. First, he is incredibly talented. He put up monster stats in college in spite of what most would consider poor circumstances, and then had the ability to surpass that at the next level. That just doesn’t happen, and yet, it did.
Second, he’s got an incredible pedigree. His father was a professional pitcher for 12 years, and in that time, Mahomes spent his formative years around some of the most dominant athletes in baseball history. You may think this doesn’t matter, but how a great player carries himself and reacts to fame is important for his success and Mahomes learned this from some of the best.
Third, he has objectively one of the most tactically skilled offensive minds teaching him the ins and outs of the NFL landscape and how to diagnose and beat opposing defenses. Andy Reid is an offensive genius, he really is. You don’t consistently win and put up points, with average players in some years, if you aren’t incredible at your craft. Reid has done this in spades and has been supercharged with the addition of the rocket-armed Mahomes.
Fourth, it’s obvious Mahomes has a mind for the game. There wasn’t a single defensive coordinator in his first year starting that could slow him down for more than a half. Even more, there were only two defensive staffs that could slow him down at all, and it almost ended up not mattering. Yes, in those games he went 1-2, but if you think those coordinators aren’t busting their tail preparing for him this year you’d be wrong. I can guarantee he keeps them up at night, and for good reason.
Finally, Mahomes clearly has a great work ethic. He claims to have spent a significant portion of his offseason analyzing all the parts of his game that he can improve on. He showed in 2018 that he can adapt quickly. Give him an offseason to figure things out, and opposing teams better look out.
Here’s the thing, out of all the players on this list Mahomes has by far the shortest track record. That might make some question his place as the Chiefs’ top draft pick of all time. However, all he did in his second year was destroy the Chiefs’ 54-year old touchdown record, set the Chiefs’ record for passing yards in a season, be named First Team All Pro, win the organization’s first MVP award, and arguably have one of the greatest individual seasons of all time. It was a season for the ages and I see no reason that he’ll slow down any time soon.
ANNUAL IMPACT SCORE: 49