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Texas Tech football: How Red Raider alums fared in the NFL this year

By Matthew Conner

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 1: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs throws a left-handed pass for a completion while he is hit by linebacker Von Miller #58 of the Denver Broncos in the fourth quarter of a game at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on October 1, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 1: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs throws a left-handed pass for a completion while he is hit by linebacker Von Miller #58 of the Denver Broncos in the fourth quarter of a game at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on October 1, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Pat Mahomes – Kansas City Chiefs

What made 2018 special for Texas Tech football fans was that we finally got a chance to see a Red Raider quarterback start in the NFL.  After spending his rookie season as a backup in Kansas City, Pat Mahomes took the sports world by storm in his first season as the Kansas City Chief’s staring QB.

His 50 touchdown passes were the second-most in a season in NFL history (tied with New England’s Tom Brady who accomplished that feat in 2007) trailing only Peyton Manning’s 55 touchdown passes for Denver in 2013.  He also threw for 5,097 yards (second in the league behind Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger) joining Manning as the only players to throw for 50 touchdowns and 5,000 yards in a single season.

Mahomes sits atop the NFL QB Index as the best passer in the league this year.  As such, he is the favorite to take home the league MVP award after leading his team to a 12-4 record and the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC playoffs.

But the stats do not do Mahomes’ season justice.  His ability to make plays on the run while making throws that no other QB in history has ever even attempted made him a national phenomenon.

It was a huge statement for a player that played in what many had considered a gimmick collegiate system that would not translate the the professional game.  Indeed, we have seen other prolific Tech quarterbacks (Graham Harrell and Kliff Kingsbury for example) fail to make it in the NFL but Mahomes is at the forefront of an offensive revolution in the NFL.

It is fitting that a player from Texas Tech, which was ground zero for college football’s spread offense revolution in the 2000’s is the face of the modern offense at the game’s highest level.  Mahomes had a 2018 to remember and has finally given Texas Tech football its first transcendent NFL quarterback.

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