Compiled by the Dos Mundos Sports Staff
The Kansas City Chiefs are hoping they’ve found their successor to veteran quarterback Alex Smith.
As multiple news agencies have reported, the Chiefs traded up with Buffalo and took Patrick Mahomes II as the 10th overall pick in the NFL Draft, held April 27-29 in Philadelphia. During an April 27 press conference, a reporter asked Chiefs general manager John Dorsey if choosing the 6-foot-2, 225-pound, 21-year-old from Texas Tech University was a means of addressing the team’s “quarterback situation” for the long haul. Dorsey considered it part of “building for the future of the organization.”
“He’s in a perfect situation,” Dorsey said of Mahomes. “He can sit back. He can learn. He can develop. And then, he’s got the tutelage of some really good coaches.”
In the NFL, it’s key for teams to have a young quarterback “who’s willing to develop” and a veteran player, as Smith is, according to Dorsey. Smith – whom the Chiefs signed in 2013 in a trade with San Francisco and is in the third year of a four-year agreement – will be 33 this Sunday (May 7).
Kansas City’s decision to take Mahomes drew praise from Kansas City Star sportswriter Terez Paylor. In an April 29 column, Paylor acknowledged Mahomes “will need time to learn the playbook and tamp down his reckless style” of play, but added that Chiefs coach Andy Reid is among the top NFL coaches at quarterback development.
“With the infrastructure the Chiefs can provide – and the time Mahomes will be given to sit and watch behind Alex Smith – it’s safe to say that if Mahomes can’t make it in Kansas City, he can’t make it in the NFL,” Paylor opined.
Others who praised Kansas City’s decision to draft Mahomes included Leigh Oleszczak. Writing for KCKingdom.com, Oleszczak gave the Chiefs an “A” for giving up some draft picks this season and next to pick him in the first round.
“I’m never going to fault the Kansas City Chiefs for going after a quarterback that they really like,” she wrote. “I just wish they’d been doing that over the past three decades!”
Note: To see the video of Dorsey’s press conference, http://www.chiefs.com/media-center/videos/John_Dorsey_Confident_in_Choice_of_Patrick_Mahomes_II/32100dc7-55ac-476f-a128-51f0998d6c5d.
