The Cincinnati Bengals hope they have their franchise passer of the future with No. 1 pick Joe Burrow.
But what if the NFL had undergone an entire redraft this offseason based around the 2020 draft order?
Pro Football Focus tried such an exercise recently and — naturally — had the Bengals pick Patrick Mahomes first overall:
“Picking for the Bengals — and I’m not going to pick Drew Lock, despite the current upward trend — I’m going to go with Patrick Mahomes, and I don’t think it’s particularly close.” – George Chahrouri
Not too hard to see why this isn’t even close. Mahomes just won a Super Bowl and MVP as the most transcendent passer we’ve seen in a long time and he hasn’t exactly shown signs of slowing.
What’s particularly stinging about this one is the fact the Bengals could’ve really had Mahomes. In the 2017 draft, Cincinnati chose to pass on Mahomes in favor of sticking it out with Andy Dalton, drafting John Ross. Mahomes came off the board just one pick later (and Deshaun Watson two picks after that).
We’re not here to feel bad about the past too much though — live and learn. The Bengals didn’t make any such mistake at the top of the draft this year, getting their guy Burrow and kickstarting a new era.
