Kansas City Chiefs: 4 reasons Patrick Mahomes situation is incomparable

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Patrick Mahomes is not a Rookie

First things first, Patrick Mahomes is not a rookie and comparing him to rookie quarterback seasons is flawed. While we can talk about “first-year starters,” that is entirely different than a rookie coming in and starting right away.

From the second the Chiefs drafted Mahomes, head coach Andy Reid made it clear that he would sit and learn behind Alex Smith in 2017. While many fans in Kansas City were against this decision, he still ended up sitting and learning for a year. Considering what Patrick Mahomes said when interviewed at the National Fantasy Football Convention, it sounds like he benefitted a significant amount from working with Smith.

"“I learned a ton,” Mahomes said. “Alex was an amazing guy. He really brought me into the quarterback room and accepted me and did his thing and had a great season himself and at the same time taught me things. Just to see what it took to mentally prepare for the game and what you have to do in order to have success on the field was something that I’ll utilize over this next season.”"

The former Texas Tech gunslinger spoke about the preparation for games and the amount of film that went into the weekly basis during the interview. He compared it to what he was accustomed to in college and how much of a leap it was to the NFL.

"“The amount of film watched, especially by the quarterback, is tremendous,” Mahomes said. “College, you watch the team that you play and then you watch yourself and you think you’re good, but when you’re in the NFL, you watch the team that you play, you watch if you played them two or three years ago, you watch all this different stuff. It’s stuff where you have to spend that time in order to get that competitive advantage.”"

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It’s not like Smith was just another bridge quarterback for the Chiefs either. Alex had a career season in 2017 before being traded to the Washington Redskins and handing the reigns over to Patrick Mahomes. While Smith has many labels including a game manager, he was the perfect quarterback to help develop the young product.

His ability to read defenses before the snap and protect the football were things that Mahomes will have to work on coming into his first season starting in the NFL. Most young quarterbacks who sit and wait during their rookie season are not learning from players like Alex Smith. Instead, they are usually sitting behind guys like Josh McCown.

Regardless of what you may think of Smith, he was a real leader willing to help his successor develop and become the best quarterback possible. There are plenty of quarterbacks in the NFL that would not be willing to take their replacement under their wing and help coach them up.

With that being said, Mahomes has a head start going into his first season as a starter. He’s seen first hand how starting quarterbacks in the NFL prepare on a weekly basis, he’s worked with a good quarterback when it comes to technique and film, and had a full season working with coaches like Andy Reid already.

Rookie quarterbacks do not have this opportunity and are thrown into the fire without a chance to sit and learn. While I’m not saying that Mahomes is going to be better or worse from sitting behind Smith, he’s had more development than rookie quarterbacks that have to start week one. With that being said, when talking expectations for his first season, it’s a flawed argument to compare rookie seasons.

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