STOCK UP

Patrick Mahomes QB Texas Tech

-          Why not start with a quarterback. Heading into the 2016 college football season, Patrick Mahomes was no more than a gunslinger who had a cannon for an arm but was not polished in his development as a quarterback. Fast forward to the NFL combine and Mahomes has gone from being a mid-round prospect with good upside to a potential last first round, early second round pick with arguably more potential than quarterback in the draft. Don’t be surprised to see his name pop up in the late first round for teams like the Texans, Chiefs or Saints.

The San Francisco 49ers have gone from being one of the more exciting teams to watch in the NFL led by head coach Jim Harbaugh to a rudderless ship without a captain after the failed Chip Kelly experiment. Over the last month, the 49ers have decided to go in a new direction with the hiring of Kyle Shanahan as their head coach under the guidance of new and first time GM John Lynch. Unlike other franchises who hire experienced coaches like the Bears hiring John Fox or when the Chiefs hired Andy Reid, the 49ers set themselves on a rebuilding path led by two men who are relatively new in their new positions.

Since American football was established over 70+ years ago, the only form of offense most teams had was the running game. As football grew to become the national power it is today many of the original teams had themselves elite running games thanks to hall of fame talent including Jim Brown, Gale Sayers and Paul Hornung. Since then we have seen several more establish themselves as the best of the best and even a select few who helped their teams win Superbowls including Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith. While the NFL was known as a running game driven league, the tables were soon turning as we began to see an influx of gun slinging quarterbacks who transformed the NFL into a pass happy league.

As we inch closer towards the Senior Bowl and eventually the NFL combine, one of the main debates surrounding this draft class is the QB class. Many believe that this group of QB’s is not a strong class and that many of the QB’s entering the draft should have returned to their programs for another year of developing. There are valid reasons why each QB entering the draft should go back to college, but is this group really that concerning? Let’s face facts here, every year there are QB’s drafted in the 1st round who had question marks and this year is no different, but why is this class treated like an exception? How does this class stack up to previous QB classes? Here are a few QB’s who have been drafted over the last few years:

Now that the 2016 NFL season is over and most of the draft order is set, let’s look at some of the best fits for the top 10 teams. Remember- this is NOT a mock draft but simply a look at which prospect might fit best with each team in the top 10. So let's take a look at the best fits for teams drafting in the top 10:

In the NFL, there are very few guarantees from year to year with the expectation of a few constants like the expected success of teams like the Patriots but the other constant that has become a revolving door is the Cleveland Browns QB carousel. Each year the Browns enter another season with question marks surrounding their QB situation and this year was no exception.