As I sit here and bask in the glow of my favorite team , the Kansas City Chiefs winning a 3rd World Championship in 4 seasons....I sit and think how it came to be. This post is way too much for a typical NFL post. But I'll discuss history , how teams and some scouts over looked a player and how 1 guy convinced 2 men to roll the dice on someone.



The Dark Times

I will spare you a deep look back beyond the 2000s. But a big factor is almost every successful organization in NFL has a franchise QB they draft. The most successful teams who become dynasties draft a QB who becomes a Hall of Famers. The Pittsburgh Steelers had Terry Bradshaw , the San Francisco 49ers had Joe Montana , New England Patriots had Tom Brady.

A big failure in Kansas City for years after Len Dawson retired in 1974 was the fact , they couldn't draft QBs well. The once back in 1983 had Dan Marino , Jim Kelly and John Elway. The team had their chance to select Kelly or Marino. Instead they drafted Todd Blackledge. The biggest QB bust in that famed class.

Over the next 33 years KC would never draft a QB in the 1st rd. Instead they spent picks after it over the years looking for a franchise QB. Almost everyone drafted never worked. So the team traded for QB's from teams. Most note worthy was Joe Montana in his final seasons , Steve Bono etc.

So the Chiefs would make it to playoffs in that span of time. But they just never went far. As a fan watching them lose so many times over a near 30 year span was heart breaking.






The Near Miss/Curse

As Kansas City seemed curse , the rest of the division always had success and great QBs. Denver had John Elway , San Diego had Phillip Rivers. KC would have ....Brodie Croyle.

It was one of those situations where as Andy Reid came in to coach he identified KC needed a QB. So he traded for a veteran in Alex Smith. Who hadn't really lived up to his #1 overall pick. But he was a veteran and under Reid KC began to improve and win. Smith became a very good QB.

But as good as Alex Smith was , he just....wasn't a franchise QB to build for years with. Andy Reid began to think about that next QB to develop and be that franchise. He would in 2016 make his intentions known who he had his eyes on with his scouts. It was a young 6'7 QB from Memphis named Paxton Lynch.

Andy Reid had great success with Donovan McNabb and had Michael Vick play really great passing football. So once Reid identified someone the team was interested in , competition always notices it. A man who loved cursing KC for years was John Elway.

Elway as a player and now front office GM was looking for a QB himself. Peyton Manning had ended his couple season career in Denver and retired. So the team needed a QB. Plus Elway loved hurting the Chiefs as well. (one time he lured a player away from signing that night he was in KC...)

But the football gods decided to smite the Denver Broncos that day. As they traded ahead of KC and drafted Lynch , the team didn't realize they'd make Kansas City a Super Bowl contender. No they walked off the draft day confident they had scored a franchise QB and hurt Kansas City.




Destiny Shines on Kansas City....

Brett Veach was a scout under Reid and John Dorsey. As he was scouting a player at Texas Tech , he saw a QB zinging deep passes with ease. Veach would grow more interested in this kid named Pat Mahomes and would start watching him all season.

Veach knew.....KNEW this kid was special. So he would push Dorsey and Andy Reid to watch. A big factor on why Mahomes wasn't drafted high was....he played at Texas Tech. His record was also 13-16 and traditionally losing QBs in college don't mean success.

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/4/...ech-draft-2017

He also was known to be more of a Brett Farve type. A guy who lived on his arm and was a gunslinger out on the field. Plus Mahomes according to scouts always threw at weird off center angles at times. Which wasn't something they could see working.

But Andy Reid saw things differently. Mahomes always seemed to have his teams in games and he always was making these throws from those spots very accurately.

Denver who had drafted Paxton Lynch in 2016 would watch as he would become a huge bust. Only throwing 4 total TDs in his career. The draft pick KC was going to use on Lynch , they traded back and drafted....a stud defensive tackle named Chris Jones.


Today both Chris Jones and Pat Mahomes just won their 3rd Super Bowl trophies in 4 appearances. Cementing both men for the NFL Hall of Fame.

For years Kansas City never had any luck drafting QB's.....drafted one of the worst busts in history. Today they can smile knowing they have the Best QB in the NFL.