Baker Mayfield Says Patrick Mahomes Should Have Been The No. 1 Pick Last Year -- Over Myles Garrett

Baker Mayfield thinks a lot of his teammate Myles Garrett, but if we’re talking pure talent, the Browns quarterback says Patrick Mahomes, not Garrett, should have been the No. 1 pick in 2017.

This is an interesting cross-positional judgment from a pretty smart guy. Garrett, a defensive end who is 6-foot-4, 271 pounds, has a 41-inch vertical, runs a 4.57 40, is about as talented a prospect as you’re ever likely to find. Out of high school he was the No. 2 overall prospect in his class. Nine games into his freshman year, he broke Jadeveon Clowney’s SEC freshman sacks record and in 34 total games with the Aggies recorded 31 sacks and seven forced fumbles. He went No. 1 overall to Cleveland last year.

Mahomes’ career has had a different trajectory. He was a Rivals.com three-star prospect coming out of high school and began his Texas Tech career as a backup to Davis Webb. He had a slow start to his career in comparison to Garrett. Coming out of college, Mahomes was widely projected as a second-round pick, but after dazzling performances at the Combine and Texas Tech’s pro day, Kansas City traded up to take him with the 10th pick, then stashed him on the bench for a year.

Talent and preparedness are two different things, and one of the reasons Mahomes spent his rookie year on the bench was that he had some recklessness that needed to be worked out of his game.

Garrett has 15 sacks in 19 games as a pro, while Mahomes is an MVP candidate. From where I sit, it’s a close call, but Mayfield would have no reason to say this if it weren’t the truth.