Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes perfect player to start team with
The Kansas City Chiefs were wise to trade up to the tenth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft to draft Patrick Mahomes. The Texas Tech product won MVP this past year and is an obvious choice for who owners would want to start a team with.
It’s always a common debate to ask football fans if they were starting an NFL franchise and got to pick any player to start their team with, who would they pick? Kansas City Chiefs fans would undoubtedly answer that question with Patrick Mahomes, and it appears that experts via an ESPN experiment.
The experiment took 55 writers and experts and simply asked them to play general manager. Those 55 people got to pick ten total players to build an NFL roster with. There were no salary cap restrictions or position limits, but here were a few of their rules:
"Aside from the 10 players, they were told to assume every other player is replacement-level. So consider this question: If you don’t take a single O-lineman, will your star QB stay healthy?Health and age matter. Our voters are trying to win the next three seasons (and the playoffs). Will their roster be intact in 2022? Are players set to peak, or set to decline?Players are picked in order of importance to the general manager."
On this project that ESPN cooked up, Patrick Mahomes was the number one player taken in 37 of the 55 surveys. He appeared on all but 13 total surveys. Here’s what ESPN said on Mahomes’ popularity,
"Mahomes was picked No. 1 overall 37 times on our 55 ballots, as voters put a high emphasis on his positional value and health certainty — he won’t turn 24 until September. He has a 5,000-yard season, a 50-touchdown season, an All-Pro season and an MVP. Again: He’s 23. A question mark: Aside from one special fourth quarter, he was pretty average over two playoff games. The voters believe he’ll check that box for this team."
I mean, duh. Why wouldn’t so-called experts be picking Mahomes? He’s young, an incredible athlete and quarterback, and he wins football games. He’s one of the best at his position already, which happens to be the most important position in the entire sport, and he’s only 23 years old.
While some might argue that Mahomes isn’t the best quarterback in the league quite yet, taking him over guys like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and even Aaron Rodgers makes total sense. Two of those three are in their 40s now and definitely closer to the end of their careers. Rodgers is in his mid 30s now as well.
Mahomes is clearly the best answer for these type of questions, but who else did the experts pick to have on their teams? Here was the top ten.
MVP Mahomes – Duh
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Mahomes is the only quarterback to appear on the list, which isn’t shocking considering you only need one starting signal caller. The rest of the list includes six defensive players, the best wide receiver in the game, a budding young running back, and two offensive linemen to help keep Mahomes on his feet.
While these other positions are certainly important, having the quarterback is the biggest question for any team in the NFL. Without a viable quarterback, your team isn’t going far. That’s just the nature of the game.
Next. Five Players Who Could Challenge Mahomes for MVP. dark
What would your answers be to this question, Chiefs fans? We obviously know who you’re taking number one, but what would the rest of your list look like?