Chiefs All-Time Top 5 QBs: Offensive of the Future
Len Dawson rolls with the pocket, Bill Kenney makes a properly-spelled name for himself, and Patrick Mahomes rewrites 40-plus years of team history.
We’ve got some controversial selections to get to, so let’s get started!
1. Patrick Mahomes
In the interest of transparency, we begin with my 2017 Bleacher Report draft grade for Patrick Mahomes, submitted in its entirety:
Mike Tanier's Devastatingly Accurate Quarterback Comparison: I Can't Believe It's Not Romo!
Patrick Mahomes' upside is the real Tony Romo. His downside is the internet meme version of Romo from Eagles/Giants message boards of the last decade.
Mahomes is Brett Favre-like in the way the neighborhood teenager throwing rocks from the sidewalk and breaking windows of the old abandoned warehouse is Brett Favre-like: You love the arm but question the judgment.
Just how highly you rate Mahomes depends upon whether you see him throw across his body to a triple-covered receiver in the middle of the field for a 30-yard gain and think: "Dang, this young man has magical playmaking sorcery," or "if he tries that 20 times in the NFL, he will throw 19 interceptions and the whole organization will get fired."
Make no mistake about it: If Mahomes were forced to start a full season as a rookie, he would not only throw 25 interceptions but would also endure 50 sacks with his Michael Vick-stuck-in-second-gear approach to pocket discipline.
But the tools are the tools, there is certainly no shortage of courage, and when Mahomes isn't making things up as he goes along, there are flashes of decision-making brilliance to go along with all of that pure, unrefined talent.
If any coach can settle Mahomes down without taking away his sizzle, it's Andy Reid. And Reid has a year or so to wait with Alex Smith still playing at...well...an Alex Smith level.
My issue is that the Chiefs have been in playoff also-ran mode for years. They could have traded up and upgraded their defense to get over the top in 2017. Reid's Eagles tended to get stuck in 10- 11-win ruts. They could swap out quarterbacks and remain in the same rut, because they still have too many needs in other areas. Grade: C.
If you are wondering, I gave the Bears’ Mitch Trubisky pick a “D” and described Trubisky as “Ryan Tannehill, dressed as Cam Newton, dressed as Matt Ryan for Coachella.” I have no idea what I meant by that. At any rate, many people said much dumber things than I did about Mahomes up to and after the 2017 draft, and of course nine teams selected other players before him.
Mahomes currently ranks eighth on the all-time postseason passing yardage list with 5,135 yards. He’s directly ahead of John Elway, Dan Marino, Kurt Warner and Jim Kelly. He will likely overtake Drew Brees in his next playoff game; one more Wild Card-to-Super Bowl run could push him past Brett Favre (5,855 yards) into fifth place. Tom Brady threw for 13,400 postseason yards. Even Mahomes will have trouble catching him, but it’s possible.
Mahomes already ranks fifth on the all-time postseason passing touchdown list with 41, one more than Payton Manning. Joe Montana and Aaron Rodgers are tied for second place with 45; Mahomes could pass them with one huge playoff game, though Rodgers could still add to his total. Brady’s record 88 postseason touchdowns feels more attainable than his yardage total.
One more from this “all-time leaderboard” roundup: Mahomes has five career postseason fourth-quarter comebacks, the same total as Montana, one more than Elway, Terry Bradshaw, Eli Manning and Russell Wilson. Brady holds the all-time record with nine. That’s a record Mahomes could easily break: weaker supporting casts may make comebacks (especially in early rounds) more likely by forcing Mahomes into shootouts against Wild Card-caliber opponents.
I don’t know where Mahomes ranks among the all-time greats like Brady and Montana. To some degree, ranking the “Mount Rushmore” types runs the risk of negating the experiences of fans from different eras.
If Montana was at his peak at the time of your life when you could watch football passionately, with unjaded eyes, then Montana might be your GOAT quarterback forever. The same can be said for all the all-time greats. There’s a time of wonder in fandom: perhaps childhood or early adolescence, perhaps a young adulthood of tailgate parties or all-day Sunday NFL binges, perhaps a middle age of sharing the sport with children and seeing it through their eyes, or just having the time/wisdom/perspective to really understand and appreciate what you are watching. The best players a fan watches in that golden era of their life becomes that fan’s GOATs. It doesn’t matter if someone comes along later and smashes records when we’re less inclined to be inspired.
One of the great joys of my writing career has been greeting each new season with a sense of wonder which has only been slightly dulled by age and the compromises of doing this for money. Mahomes is the greatest football player I have ever seen. I know that Brady’s accomplishments are greater, but watching peak Brady was more “satisfying” or “aesthetically pleasing,” than breathtaking and giddy. I look forward to watching Mahomes more than I have looked forward to watching any player since I was a teen.
That doesn’t make me right or Mahomes better than your choice for the Best Ever. It’s just the perspective of an older guy who has spent a lot of time watching and researching quarterbacks.
2. Len Dawson
Dawson starred for Purdue in the mid-1950s, when Hank Stram was one of the program’s top offensive assistants. Dawson led the Big Ten in passing yards and touchdowns three straight years. The Steelers drafted him fifth overall in 1957, then traded for Bobby Layne the following year. The Browns traded for Dawson, then plopped him behind Milt Plum. After five seasons as a bit player, Dawson signed with the AFL’s Dallas Texans, the franchise that was about to become the Chiefs.
So far, we are dealing with the standard AFL quarterback origin story, a tale which I have been slagging upon from Jack Kemp through George Blanda. Wouldn’t you know it: the NFL reject was instantly awesome in the AFL, leading the Texans to a championship game and leading the league in touchdowns!
This story, however, will be a little different.
Stram was a tireless innovator and self-promoter. He helped popularize the I-formation, which Don Coryell invented at San Diego State in the early 1960s, as well as dozens of other formations at a time when pre-snap formations were very static. He claimed to have invented the “rolling pocket,” a more sophisticated rollout package than was common at the time. Here’s Stram himself being ever-so-humble before Super Bowl IV:
"This game will match the offense of the future against the offense of the past," he said. "The decade of the '60s was the decade of simplicity. During the '60s the good teams—the Green Bay Packers, for example—came out almost all the time in the same set and ran the play. In effect, what they said was here we come, see if you can stop us.
"Well, the '70s will be the decade of difference—different offensive sets, different defensive formations. What we try to do is to create a moment of hesitation, a moment of doubt in the defense.
"It will be a decade of experiment. I think football teams reflect the personality of coaches, and I like to think my personality is reflected in the variety of the Chiefs' attack and defense. I like to see Hank Stram in the stacked defense and the 18 different offensive sets we use and the 300 and something plays we can run off those sets." – Tex Maule, Sports Illustrated, January 1970.
Dawson thrived in Stram’s offense, just as he had in college. He led the AFL in touchdowns four times and completion rate a remarkable seven times. In a league full of mad bombers, Dawson rolled out and fired short passes to the flats, with great success. He was essentially the Joe Montana of the AFL.