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What if the Cardinals had drafted Patrick Mahomes in 2017?

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

What if the Cardinals had drafted Patrick Mahomes in 2017?

The 2017 NFL draft produced three of the most intriguing QB prospects that had their own unique traits. Mitchell Trubisky out of UNC had pinpoint accuracy, Deshaun Watson out of Clemson had the dual threat capability and Patrick Mahomes out of Texas Tech had an absolute cannon of an arm. All were viewed as potential franchise QBs, and as expected all three were taken within the top 15.

The AZ Cardinals were coming off a season where they went 7-8-1, with Carson Palmer looking like age had caught up with him. Every mock draft had the Cardinals selecting one of the three franchise quarterbacks in round 1, with the idea being he would sit behind Carson for a year and learn the offense before Palmer and (backup WB) Drew Stanton retired. The Cardinals sat at #15 in the draft, so the idea was they were going to be able to draft either Watson or Mahomes. Mahomes was the most commonly mocked quarterback to the Cardinals, given his arm strength and the fact he trained with Jordan Palmer (Carson's younger brother).

When draft day came three teams traded up in an effort to get their QB. The Bears went from 3 to 2 for Trubisky, the Chiefs went from 27 to 10 for Mahomes and the Texans went from 25 to 12 for Watson. Trubisky and Watson have gone on to lead their teams to the NFL playoffs, while Mahomes took his team to the AFC Title game (while passing for 50 TDs and 5000+ Yards!). The Cardinals drafted Haason Reddick at #15, and waited another year before trading up to get their potential franchise QB in Josh Rosen.

The 2017 season did not play out well for AZ. They started off the season losing David Johnson in week 1 and scrambling to get a running game going after that. Palmer was forced to drop back on 35-50 plays per game and was taking a beating. Things got a little better on October 10, 2017 when the Cardinals acquired Adrian Peterson. All hope was lost, however, when Carson Palmer suffered a broken arm and was placed on IR after a Week 8 shutout to the Rams in London. Drew Stanton would fill in admirably (much like he did in 2014) but would be injured in Week 10 and replaced by Blaine Gabbert for Week 11. Though Gabbert showed flashes, he was marred by turnovers and inconsistency. He was benched in favor of Stanton for the remainder of the season who led the team to an upset in Seattle (eliminating them from the playoffs) and giving BA his 50th win as head coach.

BA and Palmer retired after the season and since then, the team has been in disarray. Wanting to completely move on from the BA era, the Cardinals named Steve Wilks as Head Coach (over BA's former DC James Bettcher), signed Sam Bradford to play QB and drafted Josh Rosen to be the QBOTF. This, as we all saw, led to a dumpster fire of a season that culminated in a 3-13 record. AZ knew they had to hire a young QB Guru to help Rosen grow, so they swung for the fences and lured Kliff Kingsbury away from USC. Only time will tell how this hire plays out, and for now this writer remains optimistic.

But what happens if AZ selects a QB in 2017? What if they get "their guy"? The following scenario is what I truly believed would have happened:

Draft Day 2017: Refusing to allow another team to trade ahead of them to steal away their ideal QB (much like the Broncos did in 2016 when they traded up with Seattle and selected Paxton Lynch), the AZ Cardinals trade their 2017 and 2018 first round picks to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for #10 Overall. With the 10th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft the AZ Cardinals select Patrick Mahomes. The KC Chiefs would go to select Haason Reddick, knowing they needed help at ILB. The rest of the draft remains the same, with the Cardinals selecting Budda Baker, Chad Williams, Dorian Johnson, Will Holden, TJ Logan and Rudy Ford.

2017 Season: 2017 season here plays out the same as out timeline, with the only difference being that in Week 11 Patrick Mahomes takes over the injured Drew Stanton instead of Blaine Gabbert. Mahomes makes his debut in his home state of Texas against the Texans, leading AZ to a victory. He would go on to beat the Jaguars, lose to the Rams, beat the Titans, beat the Redksins, beat the Giants. He struggles against the Seahawks, and is replaced by Drew Stanton who leads the Cardinals to an upset victory in Seattle.

2017 Playoffs: Palmer and DJ are removed from IR and Adrian Peterson's neck heals up just in time for the playoffs. Similar to the Manning/Osweiler debate, BA decides to stick with his veteran QB in a revenge matchup against the LA Rams. Palmer leads the Cardinals to a Wild Card victory due to the Rams inexperience. The Cardinals go on to beat the Eagles, with Larry Fitzgerald leading the way. The team rallies behind Fitz and Adrian Peterson to get them to Minnesota (Fitz's home town and AP's original team) for a rout of the Minnesota Vikings. The Cardinals go on to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, with Palmer FINALLY beating Tom Brady and the Patriots (the only team he never beat). BA, Palmer, APand Fitz all announce their retirements shortly afterward.

2018 Off Season: The Cardinals narrow down their coaching search to 2 candidates, just like in our timeline: Steve Wilks and James Bettcher. Wanting to keep some sort of familiarity for new starter, Patrick Mahomes, the Cardinals choose James Bettcher to be the next HC. As promised, he brings in Mike McCoy as his OC and Chuck Pagano as his DC (though he still calls the defensive plays). In free agency the Cardinals bring in Eric Decker to fill the void left by Fitz's retirement and Brock Osweiler to be the back up to Mahomes (given their familiarity with McCoy's system). They don't spend $25mil on the combination of Bradford/Glennon, allowing them to keep Tyrann Mathieu as their Free Safety while moving Budda Baker to slot CB.

2018 Draft: The KC Chiefs select Josh Rosen in Rd 1 in a trade with the Washington Redskins. In Rd 2, the Cardinals trade away a 2nd, 3rd and 5th round pick to the Tennessee Titans for their 2nd round pick select Christian Kirk out of Texas A&M. The rest of the draft stays the same for the Cardinals as the Cardinals select Mason Cole, Chase Edmonds, Chris Campbell and Korey Cunningham.

09/2018: The Broncos release Paxton Lynch. Knowing how much Bettcher/BA liked him and given his knowledge of McCoy's system, the Cardinals sign him to be their 3rd string QB.

2018 Season: No matter how much magic Patrick Mahomes can drum up, Mike McCoy's offense doesn't utilize his or David Johnson's skill sets. The Cardinals begin the season with 3 losses in a row before beating Seattle and SF. Much like in our timeline, Mike McCoy is fired after a 4th blowout loss to Denver in Wk 7 and Byron Leftwich takes over.

11/18: Texas Tech fires Mahomes's former coach, Kliff Kingsbury.

12/18: USC hires Kliff Kingsbury to be their new OC after finishing with a losing record. Kingsbury is the potential successor to Clay Helton.

2018 Offseason: Despite, the offense getting better under Leftwich the Cardinals still go 5-11. The defense finishes in the top 10 in the league, which is why Bettcher keeps his job. Knowing he is on the hot seat, Steve Keim reaches out to Kliff Kingsbury. Offering him the position of OC/Assistant Head Coach with full control of the offense. Kingsbury accepts the position and reunites with Patrick Mahomes, bringing his high powered offense to his favorite NFL team.

Feeling the urge to return to coaching, BA reaches out to Bettcher about a position on the Cardinals staff. Keim hires BA to be the QB Coach/Special Assistant to the Head Coach. Because BA returns to the Cardinals (and not the head coach of the Buccaneers) Byron Leftwich goes to Cleveland to be Freddy Kitchens' OC. Meanwhile Todd Bowles goes to the Chicago Bears to replace Vic Fangio.

So in the end of this scenario, the Cardinals still end up with Kliff Kingsbury leading the offense, the players they wanted as well as a Lombardi trophy. Instead, here we are today: the worst team in the league, a rookie head coach, an unproven QB, an organization in disarray and plenty of question marks. Meanwhile Patrick Mahomes has had an MVP caliber season and took the Chiefs to the AFC title game, on his way to becoming a $200mil man.

Now obviously this is all just a dream scenario, but it's fun to wonder. And to be fair, I like both Josh Rosen and Haason Reddick. I believe they have skill sets needed to become star players some day, but the immediate return on Mahomes has been exponentially greater. If Steve Keim could go back and know that in order to have Patrick Mahomes it would cost him Haason Reddick and Josh Rosen, do you think he would make that trade? Would you make that trade? I know I would, without any doubt in my mind.

<em>This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.</em>