PATRICK MAHOMES, NOT A 1ST ROUND QUARTERBACK

Patrick Mahomes has many of the traits you look for in a quarterback. He has a great arm, he is able to throw with velocity but also can put touch on his passes, he connects throws from very difficult platforms, is able to improvise to complete passes late in the down and throw on the run when escaping from the pocket. I'm not going to negate his strengths. It is also true that matching up against the terrible defenses of the Big XII favors the production of so many great plays.

What is also true is that many of Mahomes's big plays are unnecessary, in the sense that they are preceded by his impatience in the pocket. Playing like that in the NFL will be impossible for him. His tendency to be a gunslinger will have to be retrained by his new head coach, Andy Reid. In his eleven years as a professional quarterback Jay Cutler has not managed to take that stigma of a gunslinger off him, and Cutler left college with much more discipline in his play than Mahomes.

When you watch the tape of Mahomes you find he left a lot of plays on the field. There are incomplete passes due to his bad mechanics and inconsistent footwork. NFL coaches love quarterbacks who play fast in the pocket. Mahomes retreats in most of his snaps with "stone feet", as if he was playing in the playgrounds rather than a competitive game.

His vision is also questionable. Playing in the "Air Raid", the staple of the spread offenses, he hardly had to read defenses or isolate the correct route. When his first option was covered Mahomes leaved the pocket or directly began to spin his way to one of his countless improvisations.

Mahomes very seldom throws with timing or anticipation. Watching tape of Mahomes you will see many great plays, but very few of them you are going to see in an NFL field against much more complicated professional defenses.

I will not deny the talent of Mahomes, nor will I say that he can not become a great quarterback in the NFL. But Mahomes needs to be retrained in many facets: mechanically and mentally. His roof is high but his floor is also very low. I do not understand why the Chiefs bet so hard on someone who will not be prepared to play in two years when the next quarterback class looks more promising. If Andy Reid is that good developing quarterbacks why take such a risk for a guy who has cemented almost all of his collegiate production on his ability to improvise?

In my opinion Mahomes and Davis Webb are two similar prospects, quarterbacks with excellent arms that come out of spread offenses that will need an arduous transition to the proffesional game. One was gone at pick number 10 and the other was not taken until pick number 87.

To finish my point I will show you a little three-minute video that I've compiled with Mahomes's negative plays in just two games of last season, against TCU and Arizona State. I could have done the same with any other of his games but then the video would have go on forever. His mechanical and mental failures are repeated over and over again. Look at it and you will see the player with my eyes. To me, Patrick Mahomes is a second day developmental quarterback, not a first round quarterback.

Marco Álvarez @deionmarco