Quote:
Originally Posted by htismaqe
He did come into the league with some of the best accuracy I've ever seen in a college QB. Not necessarily on the deep balls but the guy could throw into just absolutely tiny windows on every throw.
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Yeah - he was damn near fully formed as a good quarterback. But he wasn't firing those letter perfect deep strikes. It took time for him to develop that feel for the deep ball.
Jeff Blake is always a guy I come back to on this one. Blake couldn't hit the broad sign of a barn and largely sucked at all things quarterback - but SHIT he threw a nice deep ball.
It's counter-intuitive but deep passing really is its very own animal. Being great at short/intermediate doesn't mean you'll be great deep, just as being great deep doesn't mean you'll be precise on short/intermediate.
It's like throwing a curveball. There's a threshhold level of arm strength required to get the necessary spin on the ball, but getting that curve to snap right is still all about feel. You can have a great fastball and changeup, but those aren't 'feel' pitches for the most part. You have to really have a feel for the curve, just as you need to have a feel for a deep shot.
And that's where Mahomes still struggles a little bit. He will occasionally miss those deep shots because he just hasn't quiiiiite found exactly how to arc that ball and put it where he wants it. Right now he still muscles his deep shots and it makes his window pretty small.
I think he'll get there.