Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has won two Super Bowls and two MVP awards and has been named to the Pro Bowl in all six seasons that he has been a starter.
When they selected Mahomes in 2017, the Chiefs were coming off a 12-4 season with a Pro Bowl quarterback in Alex Smith.
Mahomes was a highly-rated quarterback in the 2017 draft after three impressive seasons at Texas Tech. Mitchell Trubisky and Deshaun Watson were the other top QBs in the draft. To get their future signal-caller, the Chiefs made a deal with a team they would face in the postseason three times in four years.
Buffalo Helps Mahomes Get to Kansas City
Kansas City had the 27th pick in the first round, and it was unlikely that Mahomes would drop to the Chiefs.
The Chicago Bears selected Tribusky second overall, and with Mahomes still available after nine picks, the Chiefs made a decision that would forever alter the course of their franchise.
Buffalo owned the 10th pick in the draft after a 7-9 season and missed the playoffs for the 17th straight season in 2016. Buffalo’s starting quarterback was Tyrod Taylor, who made one Pro Bowl in his two seasons with the team.
The Bills traded the 10th pick to Kansas City for the 27th pick, a 2018 first-round pick, and a third-round pick. The two teams had discussed this trade before the draft but needed to see if Mahomes was still available when the Bills were on the clock. After the draft, both head coaches were pleased with the trade.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid on Mahomes: “He’s got some work to do. We have to be patient with him. He’s not a finished product right now. But he has tremendous upside. We think he’ll fit into this offense very well.
“He’s a good person. He’s intelligent. He’s got great skill. I just think he’ll be a great Kansas City Chief when it’s all said and done.”
New Bills head coach Sean McDermott said, “We really felt like the value we were looking at, very rarely can you do that where you can cash that in into a first-round in 2018 and get a third-round pick on top of that.” We felt good about that.”
In 2017, Mahomes would back Smith as the Chiefs won the AFC West with an 11-5 record. After the season, Kansas City traded Smith to Washington for a third-round pick.
Bills Draft Four Pro Bowl Players With Mahomes Trade
The Bills selected cornerback Tre’Davious White with the 27th pick and traded Kansas City’s third-round pick. After another trade, the Bills ended up with wide receiver Zay Jones and offensive tackle Dion Dawkins.
Buffalo acquired two Pro Bowl players, White and Dawkins, while Jones started 17 of the 21 games he played with the Bills before being traded for a fifth-round draft pick.
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With Taylor as quarterback, Buffalo went 9-7 and made the playoffs in McDermott’s first season. In the 2018 draft, the Bills used their first-round pick and the Chiefs first-round pick to make multiple trades.
In the end, Buffalo used two first-round picks in 2018 to draft two more Pro Bowl players, quarterback Josh Allen and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
The Bills passed up the chance to draft Mahomes but were able to find a franchise quarterback in the next draft and find three other players who helped turn the franchise around. Buffalo has made the playoffs six times in seven seasons since the trade, but Mahomes and the Chiefs ended two of the seasons.
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