*Walt taking 2014 and 2018 |
Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst |
Top NFC Scout Discussing Tough Pat Mahomes Evaluation
Updated March 5, 2017By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.
One of the most intriguing prospects in the 2017 NFL Draft is Texas Tech quarterback Pat Mahomes II. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder is a talented athlete with a rocket arm and an ability to improvise into big play. Mahomes comes from a college spread offense and will have a big transition to the NFL. Thus, he is a highly debated prospect with some teams that love him and other teams that skeptics.
Sources from multiple teams have raved about Mahomes’ personal makeup. They have said he’s a great kid and they like his work ethic with leadership potential. He shined in the team interviews. Here is the list of teams that Mahomes met with in Indianapolis: Bills, Texans, Bears, Browns, Vikings, Chiefs, Saints, Giants, Jets, Steelers, Chargers, 49ers, and Redskins (check out the NFL Combine Meetings Tracker.)
Mahomes’ transition to the NFL is still a hotly debated topic. WalterFootball.com spoke with a top scout on a NFC team picking in the top 20 that could take a quarterback in the early rounds. The scout had some interesting things to say, which illustrate why Mahomes is such a difficult evaluation.
“Mahomes is probably the most physically gifted. Far from polished, and has a lot of mechanical flaws that simply require repetitive work until muscle memory kicks in, but regarding pure arm/grip string and raw talent, he’s the tops of the class. Footwork, body mechanics all looked foreign to him. Again, that’s just this exposure because I love his game. He’s better highlighted when the stage is live.
The other quarterbacks were much more mechanically sound and I personally expected them to shine better in drill work like this. That being said, if he wants to maximize his pure ability he’s going to have to clean that up, so there’s some functionality with it. There’s some “Jay Cutler” vibe with Mahomes as a talent. Mahomes is much better in the football character department thus far.
That lack of winning pedigree is an issue, not a high percentage there. You can argue both sides on that. At the end of the day, for a top-tier guy the percent has typically been winning pedigrees carry over that position, being able to dominate situational football at the position. His case is a bit unique, but plenty of quarterbacks from that style of offensive have won and not amounted to anything.
His talent is high end, as is his character, but he isn’t instant grits just yet. It wouldn’t shock me to see him having some early success because his game is actually played closer to what is thriving in the league right now in terms of chaotic pocket.”
Thus, you can see that Mahomes is a very challenging evaluation for NFL teams with a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts about him translating as a pro.
