Don’t ever forget when Patrick Mahomes threw an 80-yard pass at his Pro Day

Wondering how far Patrick Mahomes can throw a football? It’s at least 80 yards as he showed at Texas Tech’s Pro Day a few years ago.

It’s Patrick Mahomes‘ world and the rest of the NFL is just living in it.

Three years into his pro career, Mahomes has won NFL MVP and Super Bowl 54 MVP as the star quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs. With the most powerful right arm in football and the passing brilliance of a point guard, how did any team overlook him in the 2016 NFL Draft?

Well, people tend to forget Mahomes played his college ball for a mediocre Texas Tech Red Raiders team. While Texas Tech was nationally relevant before under former head coach Mike Leach, the Red Raiders were often discounted because of the gimmicky Air Raid offense they were running. Seemingly anyone with an arm could throw for 4,000 yards a season in the pass-heavy offense.

Mahomes arrived in Lubbock as a kid we weren’t sure if he was going to play in the big leagues like his dad or sling the pigskin good enough for Kliff Kingsbury to get drafted in the NFL. While throwing for 700 yards in a game against former Texas Tech teammate Baker Mayfield was cool, it was also a loss for Red Raiders to the blue-blood Oklahoma Sooners.

Despite sloppy footwork and going against pillow fight Big 12 defenses, Mahomes was going to be drafted, probably in the first round on raw talent alone. But what he did in his Texas Tech Pro Day has become stuff of legend. Years later, we still can’t believe what actually happened in Lubbock back in spring 2016.

At his Pro Day, Mahomes completed an 80-yard pass on camera to scouts’ disbelief. We knew the former baseball player had a gun, but this was a howitzer on par with Jay Cutler, Brett Favre and Jeff George at their gunslinging apices. We should have known he’d become an NFL superstar right then and there. I mean, just watch it and try to not be thoroughly amazed by it.

To best summarize the experience of Mahomes’ Pro Day, look no further than what former Texas Tech legendary wide receiver Wes Welker had to say about it. Keep in mind Welker had just retired from playing with the Denver Broncos and was fresh into coaching as a member of the Houston Texans staff. Here is what he told Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg about the event.

“At the end of it, everybody was applauding,” said Welker to Rosenberg. “I was like, ‘Man, do people normally applaud at a pro day?’ One of the scouts was like, ‘I’ve been a scout for 30-plus years. I’ve never seen everybody applaud after a workout.’ And it was just scouts.”

Mahomes’ athletic triumphant in gym shorts and a t-shirt brought the stoic talent evaluators to their knees. They gave him a round of applause. It’s like actively rooting for a team in a press box. You’re not supposed to do it under any circumstance. Be a professional, dammit. But when you watch a 20-something unicorn perform magic, your mouth can only be agape in amazement.

The guy threw a football further than most of us can even throw a baseball. Let that sink in.

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