Originally posted by NYniner85:
Originally posted by WRATHman44:
People see what they want to see, or what experience has conditioned them to see. Here's a mixed, athletic kid with a big arm who scrambles, so he must be a Kap clone. Nevermind that he scrambles to pass, runs less, throws more, looks off safeties, drops touch passes in the cover 2 hole, and changes throwing platforms to avoid deflection by pass rushers. There are numerous examples of him going through progressions (Google is your friend), changing plays at the LOS, and manipulating coverage. Look harder.
That can go both ways 
I see a kid that plays backyard football misses easy plays, doesn't go through progressions (or really have to in that system), throws off his back foot a lot, doesn't have the footwork in general needed to run a WCO, while he does seem to scramble with his eyes down field, he scrambles when it's not needed.
He's got a great arm and their are intangibles that can't be taught be needs work a lot of it for our system. I'm not throwing the 34th pick on him for that.
Rodgers was a 1st round rebuild project. If Mahomes is a rare talent, which I believe he is, it is (imo) worth the draft capital and years to develop a generational arm talent with a competitive streak, great work ethic, and tremendous innate feel for the game. I would expect his throwing at the combine and pro day to show the improved (not perfect, just improved) footwork he's been working on, which should indicate that he's a worthwhile project. If he's a top 10 QB in 5 years or a top 5 guy in 10 years, who will care what amount of draft capital was spent on him? I'm of the risk/reward angle on QBs, especially in a rebuild. A solid QB is nice. A special QB is worth the risk of busting.
Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
Do they have similar physical traits? Yes they do: raw, mobile, strong armed QBs but to me that's where it ends. I would describe it this way...Kap was a baseball player who had enough of the right physical traits to play QB. Mahomes played baseball but was born to play QB. That's not a technical assessment of course, it's just my take from someone who played the position many, many, many years ago and who has been watching college/pro football for many years.
I liked the raw tools the Kap had coming out of college and hoped Harbaugh could mold him into an NFL QB, but he just didn't have that natural feel for the position that made it all come together and that was apparent from day 1. His mechanical delivery and slowness to respond to both pressure and what he was seeing in front of him was always going to doom him regardless of how many reps he took. Mahomes really is a different thing altogether. Now, that doesn't mean he's going to succeed of course as that requires a ton of hard work, being in the right situation and being groomed slowly. But he has that "it" factor that gives him a chance to be really special.
This (except I never played). Mahomes is just smooth and cool, imo. He throws great passes with good location when he has a free rusher in his face. He competes on 3rd down. He routinely delivers passes that split defenders, vertically and horizontally. I think there is a lot to work with there, well beyond his physical traits. I am WAY more excited about him as a prospect than I was about Kaepernick, because of his flexibility, poise, and commitment to throw. He's a natural thrower with incredible potential and remarkable off-platform accuracy (like Favre). He could certainly bust, but I don't see another QB in this draft with more tools (physical or not) to be truly special. My $.02.
They seem like completely different QBs to me. 
Kap would never try to make the throws Mahomes attempts. Just because they both have strong arms doesn't make them similar QBs.