Athlon Sports ranks Pat Mahomes No. 7 QB, behind Mayfield. Really?

Athlon Sports has released its rankings of all 128 starting quarterbacks in the FBS as programs look towards spring practice. Texas Tech quarterback Pat Mahomes ranks in the top ten on this list but he is behind some quarterbacks to whom he is far superior.

First let’s take a look at what Athlon said about Mahomes who checks in at No. 7.

"“Mahomes directs Texas Tech’s high-powered attack and accounted for 46 overall scores last season. He also ranked fourth nationally by averaging 357.9 passing yards per game in 2015.” Link"

Obviously this is the blandest analysis of Mahomes’ game and all of the 128 write-ups are short and lacking depth. So that leaves Athlon’s rankings open to question.

The first flaw in this ranking is that Mahomes is ranked one spot behind Chad Kelly of Ole’ Miss. Despite throwing to wide receiver in LaQuan Treadwell, a sure-fire top 10 NFL draft pick in April, Kelly threw for 611 fewer yards than Mahomes and 21 fewer touchdowns.

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The deeper stats between the two quarter backs are virtually the same but what the stats do not bear is that Mahomes did far more while playing on a team that was significantly less talented than Kelly’s. None of the receivers Mahomes threw to will be drafted in April and Kelly had an offensive tackle of Laremy Tunsil who is projected by many to be the No. 1 overall draft pick in the NFL Draft protecting his blind side.

Mahomes had the good fortune of having Le’Raven Clark protecting him however the remainder of the Texas Tech offensive line was shaky at times, especially after the injury to starting left guard Justin Murphy. In all, Mahomes should be ranked higher than Kelley because he was the principal reason Texas Tech won seven games in 2015. Ole’ Miss had a defense far superior to Texas Tech’s 127^th ranked defense meaning that virtually every game, Mahomes had to put up video game numbers just to keep his team in the contest.

The next dispute I have is the ranking of Greg Ward of Houston at No. 5. I don’t care how good Houston was in Tom Herman’s first season as head coach, the fact remains that the Cougars play in the American Athletic Conference not a power-5 conference like the Big 12.

Ward accounted for 1,175 fewer total yards from scrimmage and eight fewer touchdowns than did Mahomes in 2015. While Mahomes was facing Oklahoma, Baylor, TCU, West Virginia, Arkansas and Texas, Ward was putting up inferior stats against SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, Central Florida, Navy and UCONN.

Finally, the most frustrating part of Athlon’s rankings is seeing Baker Mayfield at No. 2. I will fully admit to being biased against the Oklahoma quarterback because of his complaining and lying after he left Texas Tech. Yet, I must also give him credit for having a much stronger 2015 season than anyone expected.

Still, Baker Mayfield is not the second best quarterback in the nation and is not better than Pat Mahomes.

Mayfield’s total offensive output in 2015 fell 1,004 yards shy of Mahomes’ 2015 season total. But the biggest reason that Mayfield is overrated is that he is not the focal point of the Oklahoma offense.

Every defense that faced the Sooners in 2015 went into the game focused on stopping OU’s talented tandem of running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon. As teams committed eight or even nine players to stopping Oklahoma’s run game, Mayfield had the luxury of facing man-to-man coverage, which any legitimate college quarterback should be able to exploit.

Mahomes was also far more consistent than Mayfield. In 2015, Mayfield had seven games in which he passed for fewer than 300 yards and two games of fewer than 200 yards passing. Mahomes had only two games with less than 300 yards passing and no games under 200 yards.

Comparing common opponents also favors Mahomes. Against TCU Mahomes passed for 392 yards while Mayfield threw for only 127. Versus the Longhorns, Mahomes had 372 yards passing in a downpour while Mayfield had a meager 211.

Mayfield has the benefit of playing for a marquee program that is featured in nationally televised games every week. The flaw with college football is that the blue-blood programs hold something close to a monopoly of power and respect that programs like Texas Tech struggle to receive.

If Mahomes were to play for Oklahoma and Mayfield for Texas Tech, there is no doubt that Mahomes would be ranked far higher than Mayfield. In fact, in that scenario Mahomes might have been a Heisman Trophy finalist simply because he played for a traditional power.

Watching Mayfield and Mahomes play shows that Mahomes has a better arm, makes better decisions with the football and is far more consistent than his counterpart in Norman, Ok. Thus, Mahomes should be ranked ahead of Mayfield.

In the regular season, Pat Mahomes was the youngest FBS player ever to pass for at least 4,000 yards, run for at least 400 yards, pass for at least 30 touchdowns and rush for at least 10 touchdowns. All of this production came from a true sophomore that came into the season with only four starts and three full games of collegiate games under his belt.

Mahomes should have been ranked no lower than fourth on the list behind Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett (though a case could be made that Mahomes is superior to Barrett) and Baylor’s Seth Russell (again a player that is not clearly better than Mahomes).

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The good news is that these polls are nothing more than offseason fodder and in 209 days Mahomes will have the opportunity to stake his claim as the best quarterback in America.

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