Sports Then and Now

In today’s NFL, the most valuable asset for any NFL team is their starting quarterback.  Finding a “franchise” quarterback is often the difference between a successful team and a team floundering with mediocrity.

Over the last three years, 11 quarterbacks have been selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. One interesting bet for New Online Casinos would be which of these young quarterbacks will be the next NFL Superstars and which will eventually be considered as draft misses.

Certainly, the young gun who has made the biggest early impression is Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.

After playing in just one game as a rookie, Mahomes became the starter in 2018 and responded with an MVP season. His 50 touchdown passes were the most ever for a second year player and tied for the second most in a season all-time. He nearly led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl as they lost in overtime to the New England Patriots in the AFC title game.

He is on pace for another big season with 10 touchdown passes in his first three games of 2019 as the Chiefs are undefeated and looking like a Super Bowl contender.

Their victory last week was over another team with a dynamic young quarterback.

Lamar Jackson was named the Heisman Trophy winner in 2016 and during his rookie season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2018 he dethroned a Super Bowl winning quarterback in Joe Flacco.

DeShaun Watson has already proven that he belongs on the field with the Houston Texans.

Sometimes the decisions made by teams in the NFL Draft can be very strange. Generally, the NFL is a performance-based league, however, when it comes to draft picks, and most especially quarterbacks, choices are often made based on projected ability, instead of how someone has actually performed on the football field.

That was certainly the case in the 2017 NFL Draft when two quarterbacks with relatively average college pedigrees were chosen ahead of one of the most successful quarterbacks in recent college football history. Something that can be confusing and frustrating for those who follow US Sportsbooks.

While DeShaun Watson was leading the Clemson Tigers to back-to-back National Championship Games following the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Mitch Trubisky at the University of North Carolina and Pat Mahaomes at Texas Tech were playing on mediocre teams.

Trubisky spent two seasons as a backup quarterback at UNC before he finally earned the starting spot for the 2016 season. Though he was a solid quarterback in his 13 stats, his performance on an 8-5 team hardly give the impression he was the next great NFL player.

While Trubisky tossed 30 touchdowns on the season with only six interceptions, in the five UNC losses, he threw only eight touchdowns while suffering all six of his interceptions. His worst performance of the season was against Virginia Tech when he completed only 39.4% of his passes for 58 yards and two interceptions.

Yet, the Chicago Bears thought enough of Trubisky to trade up to pick him with the second pick in the 2017 Draft.

The son of a former Major League Baseball pitcher, Mahomes had significantly more experience than Trubisky during his three college seasons.

Playing on a Texas Tech team that had only one winning year in his three seasons, Mahomes saw significant action as a freshman before starting the last two seasons.

The Red Raiders posted a 12-13 record during those two years while making one bowl appearance. Mahomes racked up huge numbers over the last two seasons tossing 77 touchdowns with 25 interception and compiling over 9,700 yards through the air. For his career, Mahomes completed 63.5% of his passes for 11,252 yards, 93 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. Read the rest of this entry →