Scout Report – Patrick Mahomes

• Position: Quarterback (Air Raid)
• Previous Team: Texas Tech Red Raiders
• Status: 2017 Rookie, Kansas City Chiefs (Round 1, Pick 10)

Age: 21, Height: 6’2, Weight: 225 lbs, Experience: 2 year starter (College)

• Average opposing defense rank: 90.5
• Average opposing pass defense rank: 94.6

Strengths:

• Deadly accurate, probably the most accurate deep threat rookie.
• Keen pocket presence, always seems to know when to get the ball out of there.
• Good arm strength, has no problems tossing the ball deep or across the field.
• Good faker, can get defenders to bite on play action.
• Quite comfortable with calling audibles and making adjustments.
• Has the athleticism needed to take off if under pressure.
• Quick release is a dream for short passes.
• Stone Statue resilience allows him to stand in a crumbling pocket and continue to look for the open receiver.
• Keeps his eyes downfield, even when scrambling.
• Possesses a Blitz radar, always seems to know where the blitz is coming from.

Weaknesses:

• Stats are inflated because of HEAVY use of screens and passes out of the backfield.
• Way too predictable, in the Kansas State game (Week 6), of the 45 completions thrown, 26 (57%) of them were caught within 5 yards, and of the 26 short catches, 13 were screens.
• Play style and statistics rely heavily on the open field ability of his receivers.
• Not a fast runner.
• Gunslinger tendency, will chuck the ball downfield to make a point, even if it comes up an interception.

Overall:

Mahomes, I would argue, is one of the most overrated players coming into the league, not because of ability, but rather because of the accolades that surround him. On paper Mahomes was the #1 QB in college. He holds the most passing yards of the season (5,052), he was the only QB to throw for over 5,000. He had the third most attempts (591) and tied for the second most completions (388). He was 13th in completion percentage (65.7), tied third for most touchdowns (41), and only threw for 10 interceptions. On paper, Mahomes is the best QB coming out of the draft. Reality is not so kind. In reality, Mahomes was a part of a team that went 5-7, 4-7 if you remove worthless stat padding games against not FBS teams (Week 1 against SF Austin). Mahomes played against 3 ranked opponents (#20 West Virginia, #16 Oklahoma, and #13 Oklahoma State) and lost to all three. On top of all of this, Mahomes never, NEVER played against an elite defense. The highest ranked defense he played against was Kansas State, ranked 48th in the nation. He played against 4 bottom of the Barrel defenses (Arizona State ranked 127th or second worst in the country, Kansas ranked 105th, Oklahoma State ranked 106th, and Iowa State ranked 100th). Mahomes currently had the lowest average competition of all players scouted to this point, beating out the previous holder Myles Garrett (avg. 62.5) by a 28 rank difference.  On top of all this, Mahomes owes much of his success to his Wide Receiver core, who were the main reason he has so many yards to begin with. Watch any game and you will see a very similar sight: A screen pass or quick slant to the receiver who then takes it up the field for anywhere from 7-20 yards. In this respect Mahomes is the perfect West Coast QB, as he is used to being carried by his supporting cast. However, away from the realities of Mahomes, it would be foolish to think he is a bad QB. Mahomes had to work with a poor line, yet still was able to showcase the levelheaded resolve in the pocket I have seen from a QB. He is deadly accurate, and thanks to the nature of the Air Raid offense he ran in Texas Tech, he is accustomed to making play calls on the fly. Mahomes possesses one of, if not the best, pocket presence in the draft. I honestly believe Mahomes is a good pick, but it is hard to say how he will turn out once he faces real competition.