OPINION:
Former New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi once told me that the quarterback you want is the guy who, when he gets on the team bus to head for the game, his teammates believe they have a chance to win that day because of him.
Patrick Mahomes — who led the Kansas City Chiefs to their second straight Super Bowl championship and his third title in five years Sunday — does that and more. He can step on the opposing team’s bus and make those players believe they have no chance to win against him.
That was the look on the faces of the San Francisco 49ers players on the sideline at Allegiant Stadium while Mahomes led his team to the game-winning overtime drive in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas — going 8 for 8 in OT, with two dramatic first-down runs, finishing with a three-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman for the 25-22 win.
This reminded me of something else Accorsi once said, recalling a conversation with the great Johnny Unitas, who, with three NFL championships on his resume, knew something about game-winning drives: “This is how you judge a quarterback — can he take the team down the field with the championship on the line and get it in the end zone?”
The Washington Commanders, with the No. 2 pick in the upcoming NFL draft, will likely try to choose the quarterback they hope will be
They’ve been looking for one for more than 30 years — since Mark Rypien led Washington to its last Super Bowl title in 1991. No one would mistake Rypien for Mahomes, but when he got on the bus that year on game day, his teammates believed he gave them a chance to win.
Robert Griffin III likely generated those feelings for a brief spell in his rookie year of 2012 — although let us not forget Washington was 4-6 at one point that season. But any pretense that this franchise had found that guy over the last three decades has been delusional.
As they do now, Washington had the second pick in that draft when it selected Griffin. But it had to trade three first-round picks and a second with the St. Louis Rams to get that No. 2 selection.
There was someone in front of them — the Indianapolis Colts — who drafted Andrew Luck, who, though his career was cut short by injuries, was still clearly a level above RGIII, with 171 touchdown passes in six seasons, including 39 in his final year in 2018 before he retired. There is no doubt that Luck’s teammates believed when they got on the bus on game day, they had a chance to win.
When Washington had the second pick in the 2020 draft, Ron Rivera picked defensive end Chase Young. That decision, in hindsight, has to be seen as a massive misstep (even with Young’s flash in Sunday’s Super Bowl for San Francisco in a losing effort).
At No. 1, the Cincinnati Bengals selected quarterback Joe Burrow. If Washington had the No. 1 pick, Rivera indicated he would have picked Burrow — the one quarterback to out-Mahomes Mahomes, leading the Bengals from a 21-3 deficit to Kansas City to a 27-24 win in the AFC championship game two years ago. You can be sure Burrow’s teammates feel good every time he gets on the bus to head for the game.
Twice, Washington has had the No. 2 pick and the team in front of them has both times taken a championship-caliber quarterback. Will the Commanders make it three for three?
The top three-rated quarterbacks in this 2024 draft are USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye. Daniels and Maye are considered fine quarterbacks, but Williams is thought to have the best chance of being that Mahomes-like guy.
The Chicago Bears have the No. 1 pick, and they have a quarterback in Justin Fields, but many believe the Bears will use that No. 1 pick to draft Williams and trade Fields — unless someone can make them an offer they can’t refuse for that No. 1 selection.
Maybe someone like Washington.
These types of trades don’t often work. It didn’t work for Washington, and it certainly didn’t work for San Francisco when Adam Peters, the Commanders’ new general manager, was there and traded three first-round draft picks in 2021 to select quarterback Trey Lance out of North Dakota State.
But then I think of Accorsi and his wise words and the fact that he was willing in 2004 to trade Philip Rivers, the Giants’ third-round pick in that draft, plus their first and fifth-round selections in 2005, for Eli Manning, who led the Giants to two Super Bowl championships over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. He was the guy that Accorsi wanted on that team bus.
If Washington — whose new offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, worked with Williams as USC’s offensive analyst this past season — believes that Williams is its guy on the bus, the new brain trust needs to do everything possible to make that happen and not settle for second place.
Settling for No. 2 hasn’t worked here before.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
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