Which NFL teams passed on Patrick Mahomes in the draft?
Patrick Mahomes was selected No. 10 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. The fact he fell that far, given his current stature as a star, remains a shock to this day.
The nine teams ahead of the Chiefs in reverse order were the Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, and Cleveland Browns.
Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are absolute superstars—someone should do a really cool piece with their Front Offices on what they saw or didn’t in comparison to other teams in the draft for them. One went 10, the other 7
They’re both spectacular
Of course, not every team was in a position to take a quarterback, even if drafting Mahomes could have ultimately changed their franchise. That is the beauty of hindsight, as we can say all nine teams would have benefitted from taking the star signal-caller.
But two teams in particular stand out as whiffing the most and living with the most regret to this day.
2 NFL teams still regret passing on Patrick Mahomes
The Bears needed a quarterback heading into the 2017 NFL Draft. They were sitting with the No. 3 pick and seemingly panicked by trading up to No. 2 overall in a trade with the 49ers.
The two teams swapped those top picks, and the 49ers got a haul of draft capital in exchange as well.
So would the Bears take Mahomes, or even Deshaun Watson? No, they infamously drafted Mitchell Trubisky as the first quarterback off the board.
He threw for seven touchdowns in 12 starts as a rookie, but did lead the Bears into the postseason in 2018 with Matt Nagy as the new head coach.
I'm starting to think the Bears picking Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes wasn't a good decision.
Yet everything went downhill from there. Trubisky never started a full season's worth of games, and his career-high in passing yards for a single season is the mark of 3,223 he had in 2018.
Meanwhile, Mahomes won NFL MVP that same year.
Chicago gave up on Trubisky and decided to try again with Justin Fields. If he doesn't pan out, fans will continue to wonder what could have been.
The same is true for Cleveland Browns fans. The team openly tanked during the 2016 season and it worked as they landed the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
They desperately needed a quarterback and instead went with defensive end Myles Garrett.
Garrett has since become an All-Pro defender who is among the best in the league. Yet the quarterback position remains in flux after a rough year from Baker Mayfield.
The Browns opted to wait until 2018 to take a quarterback in Mayfield. Looking back, the 2017 class had some stronger options, including Mahomes and Watson.
To make matters worse, the Browns used their 2017 second-round pick on quarterback DeShone Kizer. He was forced to start as a rookie and posted an 0-15 record as the team as a whole finished 0-16.
If they wanted a quarterback, why not take one with the top pick?
Nine teams had a shot to draft Mahomes before the Chiefs. Looking back, the Browns and Bears are still left wondering why they failed to make the easy decision to take him.
Also Checkout: Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl Wins