How many NFL teams could Patrick Mahomes carry to a Super Bowl?
By John Buhler
Patrick Mahomes has already won a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. How many NFL teams could he carry to a Super Bowl appearance, maybe even win one?
It took only three seasons out of Texas Tech for Patrick Mahomes to become a Super Bowl champion.
At 24 years old, Mahomes emerged as the best player in football and the presumptive face of the league for the next decade-plus. There are many Super Bowls on the horizon for the Kansas City Chiefs, but what if Mahomes were somehow magically available in 2020?
Since it’s the offseason, here’s a fun, hypothetical exercise. Let’s say all 32 franchises are forced into a one-time quarterback draft for the upcoming season and landed Mahomes.
Is Mahomes great enough to carry your favorite team to Super Bowl LV?
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Putting Mahomes on any of these eight teams would be like adding Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady or Joe Montana in their primes to a Super Bowl-caliber roster. You take one look and quickly realize you have little chance of beating them.
Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore has a championship head coach in John Harbaugh, as well as two elite coordinators in Don Martindale and Greg Roman. Lamar Jackson hasn’t figured out how to win playoff games yet, but Mahomes certainly has. If the Ravens have Mahomes at quarterback, they’re going undefeated and the ’72 Miami Dolphins will have tasted perfection champagne for the final time.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay is a lesser version of Baltimore. Mahomes will be able to carry the offense like Aaron Rodgers has done for years. The defense is good under Mike Pettine and Green Bay finally has a running game. While Matt LaFleur is a downgrade at head coach from Andy Reid, the closest thing to Brett Favre as a quarterback is Mahomes.
Kansas City Chiefs
Duh.
New England Patriots
Not only would this be unfair, but everybody outside of New England would hate this. Mahomes is a better quarterback talent than Tom Brady. It would be like Bill Belichick getting his 21st century version of Drew Bledsoe, an undeniable specimen at quarterback. Indoctrinate Mahomes in the Patriot Way and the New England win Super Bowls for another 10 seasons. Neat.
New Orleans Saints
Mahomes is an upgrade over an aging Drew Brees. He may be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but Mahomes’ right arm puts Brees’ to shame. Mahomes won’t need a running game to win big in The Big Easy, but he’ll need defensive competence to hang tough in a shootout. This would be the NFC version of the Chiefs, but on FieldTurf. They’ll score 50 points every Sunday.
Philadelphia Eagles
There’s a lot to like about Carson Wentz, except for he gets hurt all the time. He has won a grand total of zero playoff games for the Eagles the last three years. Philadelphia runs the same offensive system Mahomes uses in Kansas City, as Doug Pederson is an Andy Reid disciple. The result will be Randall Cunningham brilliance without all the Buddy Ryan nonsense.
San Francisco 49ers
If you can’t beat them, draft their quarterback. Even though the Chiefs beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl, you can argue they had the better roster from players No. 2 to 53. The reason San Francisco didn’t win it all last year was Jimmy Garoppolo couldn’t score any fourth-quarter points. Blowing massive Super Bowl leads will be a thing of the past for one Kyle Shanahan.
Seattle Seahawks
Seattle is the only other NFL franchise where its quarterback is a bona fide tractor. Russell Wilson can carry wet-paper-bag offensive lines to the postseason. He’s more nimble than Mahomes, but we know who has the howitzer for a right arm. The Seahawks adding Mahomes to the mix guarantees Seattle will not lose a home game for an entire Olympiad. The 12th Man rises.