Revisiting the Jets’ decision to bypass Patrick Mahomes in 2017 NFL Draft
Ahead of the 2017 NFL Draft, Patrick Mahomes made a trip to New Jersey.
The Jets, who have a training center in Florham Park, New Jersey, had invited Mahomes for a visit after he worked out for the team at Texas Tech.
In his mock 2017 NFL Draft, Pete Prisco of CBS Sports had the Jets selecting Mahomes with the No. 6 pick. Prisco wrote: “I am not convinced they think they have their quarterback of the future on the roster. Are you?”
Mike Maccagnan, the Jets general manager at the time, apparently thought New York had its man.
“Maccagnan passed on (Mahomes) with the No. 6 pick because he believed the Jets might already have their quarterback of the future in Christian Hackenberg, and if they didn’t, they would grab him in the 2018 draft, which was being viewed as a more QB-rich draft,” Brian Costell of the New York Post wrote this week.
The Jets’ decision to bypass Mahomes will never be viewed as harshly the Chicago Bears, who traded up one spot to No. 2 and took quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Part of the reason is the Jets’ selection of safety Jamal Adams, who was an All-Pro last year.
“I definitely thought there was interest there,” Mahomes told reporters when asked about the Jets. “Whenever you get on those visits, you know they’re pretty interested in doing their due diligence, so I mean I definitely thought there was some interest there. At the time they drafted a great player in (safety) Jamal Adams so you can’t really argue with that one.”
With all due respect to Adams, the Jets did blow a chance to draft a quarterback who has changed the fortunes of a hard-luck Chiefs franchise. Meanwhile, Hackenberg never played a down for the Jets and bounced to the Raiders, Eagles and Bengals. He is now out of the NFL.
Although New York drafted Adams, an ESPN story from November 2017 noted the Jets talked about taking a quarterback at No. 6.
“Jets brass had long discussions about the top passers, deciding only one — Trubisky — was worth the sixth pick,” ESPN’s Rich Crimini reported. “While they had high regard for (Deshaun) Watson and Patrick Mahomes — drafted 12th and 10th, respectively — they didn’t consider them plug-and-play quarterbacks.”
Part of the reason for the quarterback discussion ahead of the 2017 Draft may have been because coach Todd Bowles knew the Jets weren’t set at the position.
“Todd Bowles and his coaching staff had already made up their mind, though, that Hackenberg could not do it,” Costello wrote. “Maccagnan should have seen that and moved on, even though he would have been criticized for wasting a second-round pick. He just delayed that criticism by a year.”
When Hackenberg didn’t pan out, Bowles started 38-year-old Josh McCown at quarterback for the 2017 season, and third-year quarterback Bryce Petty made three starts late in the season. New York finished with a 5-11 record.
In the 2018 Draft, the Jets selected Sam Darnold in the first round, and he’s completed 59.6% of his passes in 31 games, throwing 39 touchdowns and 34 interceptions.
Hindsight is 20-20, but on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, Darnold will face Mahomes and the Chiefs. Fans on the East Coast can only wonder how different things might be for the 0-7 Jets if they’d valued Mahomes highly three years ago.
“If the Jets had drafted him, chances are things would not have gone so smoothly,” Costello wrote. “He would not have gotten a year to learn behind (Alex) Smith or gotten the chance to play for Andy Reid and with weapons like Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.
“Still, Mahomes looks like he has the type of talent to overcome anything — even the Jets.”
