Mahomes and the young guns (nothing like AFC playoff QBs to make rest of us feel older)
The years passed, but the quarterback picture in the AFC remained constant.
Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethisberger, Philip Rivers, Joe Flacco. Pick a pair, sometimes three. The Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, starting in 2004 and for the next dozen or so years, produced a familiar cast.
But now it’s out with the old and in with the new: a fresh-faced quartet of quarterbacks in this year’s AFC Divisional Round of the playoffs.
The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is the elder statesmen in terms of experience, selected in the 2017 NFL Draft and the reigning Super Bowl MVP. His counterpart Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, the Cleveland Browns’ Baker Mayfield, is the oldest of the group by five months over Mahomes. Both are 25.
The Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills are 24. Their teams meet Saturday in Buffalo.
The combined total of games played — regular season and playoffs — for the four is 193. Rivers has played in 256, Roethlisberger 255.
The guard — and game — is changing, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid is a fan.
“I think it’s great for the game, this influx of new guys at that position,” Reid said. “It’s great for viewers, for fans, cities, gives these different cities an opportunity to compete and the parity is already great. Then you add this influx for quarterbacks that I think takes it up another notch so I’m all in. I love it. It’s great competition.”
Credit draft decisions made by teams since 2017 for this moment in time.
In 2017, the three first-round quarterbacks drafted were Mitchell Trubisky, who went second to the Chicago Bears; Mahomes, 10th to the Chiefs; and Deshaun Watson, 12th to the Houston Texans.
All have logged playoff starts. Mahomes sits at the head of the class with a Super Bowl championship last year following his 2018 MVP season.
The 2018 draft produced a run on quarterbacks. Five were selected in the first round, matching the second most in a single draft. Besides Mayfield, who went first overall, Allen at No. 7 and Jackson at No. 32, the New York Jets took Sam Darnold third and the Arizona Cardinals picked Josh Rosen 10th.
Darnold posted a winning record as a starter in his second season but otherwise has had a rough go as a pro. Rosen is with his fourth team in three years and didn’t appear in a game this season.
But the others are delivering on their first-round promise. Mayfield and Allen posted their best seasons by quarterback rating, and Jackson won the 2019 MVP. All are coming off their first playoff victory.
Contrast that to the NFC Divisional Round.
Saturday’s game matches the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 43-year-old Tom Brady against the New Orleans Saints and 42-year-old Drew Brees. Aaron Rodgers, 37, and the Green Bay Packers face the L.A. Rams Sunday.
This year’s AFC quarterback quartet has a combined 11 career playoff starts entering the weekend. Brady has 42, Rodgers 18 and Brees 17. Brees has thrown for an NFL-record 80,358 passing yards, Brady a record 581 touchdown passes.
Mahomes is the only quarterback in the AFC Divisional Round with more than 100 touchdowns (114) and 14,000 passing yards (14,152).
Jackson was the youngest player to start a playoff game two years ago. Mahomes is the fastest in history to 10,000 yards and 100 touchdowns.
This season, Allen became the first quarterback in NFL history to total 4,500 passing yards, 35 touchdown passes and five rushing touchdowns.
Mayfield set the rookie record for touchdowns with 27 in 2018, a mark that was eclipsed by the L.A. Chargers’ Justin Herbert this year.
And that poses this question: Is there already a group behind these current next-gen quarterbacks? Herbert is a top rookie candidate. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow was on his way to posting big numbers before he was sidelined with a season-ending injury. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa was uneven but delivered good moments for the Dolphins this season.
All of them are AFC quarterbacks. From the NFC, second-year pro Murray looks like the future with the Cardinals, and who knows what the future is in Philadelphia for Jalen Hurts, given the firing of Doug Pederson earlier this week.
Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Zach Wilson are a few months away from likely hearing their names called in the first round of the 2021 draft.
At the moment, the AFC’s path to the Super Bowl will be blazed by a quarterback who has been legally permitted to consume an alcoholic beverage for only three or four years. The next generation has become the “now” crowd.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 3:29 PM.