The AFC West’s topography was altered by the 2017 NFL Draft for the foreseeable future, but maybe John Elway and the Denver Broncos could have stopped it from happening (or at least made sure it was them who benefited).
The Broncos supporters were disappointed, but the Kansas City Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes of Texas Tech with the 10th choice in the 2017 NFL Draft, moving up from the 27th pick. The Chiefs, led by Mahomes, have dominated the AFC West and the AFC in recent years, winning three Super Bowls in the previous five years.
Since joining the league, Mahomes has likewise had no trouble dominating the division. With 12 wins out of 13 against the Broncos since joining the AFC West, Mahomes has terrified their team. He hasn’t faced any difficulties in this division at all, having just dropped two games against the Raiders and two against the Chargers.
The Broncos “really liked” Mahomes when he was about to enter the draft out of college, according to Elway, who was the team’s general manager and executive vice president of football operations from 2012 to 2020.
John Ewlay told @AdamSchefter the Broncos “really liked” Patrick Mahomes during the 2017 draft process.
(Via The Adam Schefter Podcast)
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) February 16, 2024
According to John Elway, the Broncos “really liked Patrick Mahomes.”
It is important to remember that, should the Broncos decide to trade up and choose Mahomes, there is no assurance that he would play the same position in the Chiefs’ lineup. With Andy Reid as his head coach and a year to sit under Alex Smith, Mahomes found himself in an almost ideal circumstance upon joining Kansas City.
We all know how it ended. The Broncos were about to enter the first year of the Vance Joseph era. It’s unreasonable to think that he can make Mahomes become someone he wasn’t under Reid.
But more importantly, if the Broncos had targeted Mahomes because they genuinely liked him, it would have meant KC was left empty-handed. We had no idea how good Mahomes would be at the time, but if the Chiefs didn’t select the Texas Tech player, they would most likely keep Alex Smith on the field for the last two seasons of his deal and, unlike Broncos supporters, never win a Super Bowl.
Given how simple it is to claim in retrospect that executives liked a guy who ended up being really excellent, I’m not sure how much Broncos fans will take Elway’s remarks at their value. Why didn’t the team select Mahomes if he is speaking the truth? Was their lack of aggressiveness in pursuing Mahomes because they had selected Paxton Lynch in the first round the previous year? Did they anticipate his availability toward the end of the first round (Denver held the 20th pick)?
For whatever reason, Broncos supporters would have done better to go unnoticed on this one.
