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Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:06 pm
by Boris13c
Andy Reid says Patrick Mahomes ‘couldn’t pay Alex enough’ for sharing his experience

MIAMI
Some think of Patrick Mahomes as a second-year quarterback. After all, he has accumulated nearly all of his statistics and all of his touchdown passes over the previous two NFL seasons.

But Mahomes is a third-year Chief, essentially using a redshirt season to begin his career in Kansas City. He was drafted in April 2017, went through organized team activities, training camp and spent the first 16 games of his rookie year on the bench.

That year wasn’t idle time. Far from it, and the Chiefs and Mahomes have credited a former member of the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday’s opponent in Super Bowl 54, for helping lay the foundation for the young quarterback’s career that already includes a NFL Most Valuable Player award.

“Alex Smith was phenomenal,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Tuesday.

~~~

Simply, Smith helped Mahomes become a pro by accelerating the process.

“The person that he was, he taught me a ton,” Mahomes said. “How to go about the week and game plan, how to read coverages. He gave me little tips about how to read the front to see who is blitzing.

“Those little things I learned were invaluable. It’s stuff that can take you your full career to learn and he taught me that in my first year.”

that used to be the standard for new QB's ... sit and learn for a year (or more) behind someone able to teach and lead by example ... then everything changed where the new drafted rookie QB's are thrown onto the field as quickly as possible, learning be damned ... some thrived under that pressure, others had their careers ended before they really started

it would have been nice for Trubisky to have had the same first year experience as Mahomes did ... unfortunately, Mike Glennon was not up to the task

Re: Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:02 pm
by BamaBear09
Boris13c wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:06 pm that used to be the standard for new QB's ... sit and learn for a year (or more) behind someone able to teach and lead by example ... then everything changed where the new drafted rookie QB's are thrown onto the field as quickly as possible, learning be damned ... some thrived under that pressure, others had their careers ended before they really started
I don't feel like this has been true for a long while... if you look at most of the top QBs during the 80s-today, almost all of the good ones played early... You want to argue that a good QB can get ruined by playing with a bad team, like David Carr. That has a little more weight to it than the "if only he could sit for longer, he might be better" idea... there just isn't really any way to prove that as a fact...

There really isn't any correlation with a guy sitting and being better than a guy who played early... especially with highly drafted QBs... Some guys are good and some guys are not... sitting behind players for a few years doesn't really change that... look at the 1983 draft... Elway, Marino played early and while Elway's stats were not super impressive, you saw flashes of a guy who could play that first year... then look at guys like Todd Blackledge, he sat behind a guy for a season... never improved, couldn't win the starting job fully and finished his career with an under 50% completion rate... was the guy he sat behind just not a good teacher? Or is it just that the cream rises to the top?

There is no guarantee that Aaron Rodgers HAD to wait three years to be good, his situation ended up that way... and look at Brady, he was on the bench for one season before an injury forced him in and then he never gave the job back, he was drafted in the 6th round to be a backup not to be groomed to be a starter...

Re: Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:18 pm
by Drone7
True.

Good starting QBs get on the field quickly and erase doubts early.

Re: Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:35 pm
by wab
BamaBear09 wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:02 pm
Boris13c wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:06 pm that used to be the standard for new QB's ... sit and learn for a year (or more) behind someone able to teach and lead by example ... then everything changed where the new drafted rookie QB's are thrown onto the field as quickly as possible, learning be damned ... some thrived under that pressure, others had their careers ended before they really started
I don't feel like this has been true for a long while... if you look at most of the top QBs during the 80s-today, almost all of the good ones played early... You want to argue that a good QB can get ruined by playing with a bad team, like David Carr. That has a little more weight to it than the "if only he could sit for longer, he might be better" idea... there just isn't really any way to prove that as a fact...

There really isn't any correlation with a guy sitting and being better than a guy who played early... especially with highly drafted QBs... Some guys are good and some guys are not... sitting behind players for a few years doesn't really change that... look at the 1983 draft... Elway, Marino played early and while Elway's stats were not super impressive, you saw flashes of a guy who could play that first year... then look at guys like Todd Blackledge, he sat behind a guy for a season... never improved, couldn't win the starting job fully and finished his career with an under 50% completion rate... was the guy he sat behind just not a good teacher? Or is it just that the cream rises to the top?

There is no guarantee that Aaron Rodgers HAD to wait three years to be good, his situation ended up that way... and look at Brady, he was on the bench for one season before an injury forced him in and then he never gave the job back, he was drafted in the 6th round to be a backup not to be groomed to be a starter...
This was kind of a late 90's through 2010(ish) thing. A lot of guys that sat either didn't have a ton of experience or weren't pure pocket passers in a pocket passing league. Or they were sitting behind an aging veteran who wasn't bad.

Re: Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 4:12 pm
by Boris13c
BamaBear09 wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:02 pm
Boris13c wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:06 pm that used to be the standard for new QB's ... sit and learn for a year (or more) behind someone able to teach and lead by example ... then everything changed where the new drafted rookie QB's are thrown onto the field as quickly as possible, learning be damned ... some thrived under that pressure, others had their careers ended before they really started
I don't feel like this has been true for a long while... if you look at most of the top QBs during the 80s-today, almost all of the good ones played early... You want to argue that a good QB can get ruined by playing with a bad team, like David Carr. That has a little more weight to it than the "if only he could sit for longer, he might be better" idea... there just isn't really any way to prove that as a fact...
each guy is different I know, but the key element is not necessarily how long a new QB must sit to be effective, but the quality of the time he has to wait

Mahomes sat for 1 year and had the benefit of a true mentor that accelerated his learning curve, as he himself points out

and I wasn't advocating that there is a requirement for a new QB to sit X number of years ... I was advocating that it behooves the team getting a new QB to have the learning environment necessary for success ... and that Mahomes had that ideal environment as a young QB coming in

Re: Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:43 pm
by spudbear
Boris13c wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2020 4:12 pm
each guy is different I know, but the key element is not necessarily how long a new QB must sit to be effective, but the quality of the time he has to wait

Mahomes sat for 1 year and had the benefit of a true mentor that accelerated his learning curve, as he himself points out

and I wasn't advocating that there is a requirement for a new QB to sit X number of years ... I was advocating that it behooves the team getting a new QB to have the learning environment necessary for success ... and that Mahomes had that ideal environment as a young QB coming in
Good point. If QB is the most important position in sports then you do whatever you can to ensure your starter or draft pick has what they need to succeed. Not only was Mahomes mentored by a quality vet QB who was WILLING to teach him, but he was part of a team that consistently fielded very good NFL offenses.

Another factor NFL teams consider is taking advantage of the salary caps for draft picks, particularly if you are fortunate to find a starter in the mid-rounds. Seattle was able to do this with WIlson, got their SB win when he was cheap but now they're paying top $$ for him. Dallas was not able to take advantage of a cheap Dak, and now they have to pay him big $$ not knowing if he can be the guy to take the team back to the SB. He's the best they have for now so Jerry will swallow hard (trying not to stretch out his facial skin) and pay him.

I'm tempted to relate all of this to Mitch's situation but I'd just as soon not rehash that.

Re: Mahomes thanks mentor Smith on eve of Super Bowl

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:27 am
by mmmc_35
I think its fairly logical. Sitting helps progression and hipefully adds pieces in that year to help with success.

I dont think sitting helps a bad QB. I do think average togreat qbs it allows for a higher success rate. I can't think of a great example so a bit off line...

Like Rex Grossman. We saw sparks but after his ACL injury in Minnesota he lost that true confidence. I think he could have been pretty good but injuries curtailed his success rate.