The thing that gave me the most pause with Patrick Mahomes before the draft was Texas Tech’s air raid offense. Quarterbacks coming from his college offense have not been good.
ESPN’s Jon Gruden recently said Mahomes’ offense at Texas Tech wasn’t the same as other air raid quarterbacks but it’s clear that there’s still a lot that is the same. The question still applies: Can an air raid quarterback succeed in the NFL?
Mahomes joined Soren Petro on Wednesday and answered why he’s different from the other air raid quarterbacks.
“First off, how much more I’ve done in college than the other air raid quarterbacks did coming out,” Mahomes said on 810. “Coach (Cliff) Klingsbury put so much on me where I got to call the entire play, really signal to everybody, call to the line and tell the running back, as well as being able to change any of the plays.
“My physical traits, I feel like I can throw the ball better than all the other air raid quarterbacks that came out and I think that will help me a ton as I make the transition to the NFL.
“The most important thing is the coaches I’m about to get with coach (Andy) Reid, coach (Matt) Nagy and Alex (Smith) with all of them showing me how to transition and how to move my game to the next level. I think that’s going to be the biggest part of me transitioning better than other quarterbacks have.”
I agree with everything here because of course I do. I want him to work out so it’s easy to believe this. The most important part, I think, is the last part. The coaching staff. If Mahomes can’t succeed here in this perfect situation in Kansas City, he can’t succeed anywhere.