Given his penchant for last-minute heroics, it’s almost automatic to assume that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be at or near the top of any list rating NFL quarterbacks in the two-minute drill.
But Courtney Cronin of ESPN recently did a rundown of the best in this category, and Mahomes name was nowhere to be found. She covered the top four, including quarterback Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears, and some of the names were definitely surprising, so let’s review accordingly.
One name was an obvious one that belonged: Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. He’s long been a master of the two-minute drill, although he’s had some embarrassing moments with clock management while running it. The stats cited by Cronin included six touchdown passes in the two-minute drill, along with a 71 percent completion percentage and 9.2 yards per passing attempt.
Quarterback #2 has to burn for Chiefs fans: Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos. Nix has four touchdown passes, and his QB rating of 86 is third in this category, but what impressed Cronin the most was Nix’s growth when it comes to not taking sacks. Nix has taken 12 in 11 games so far, which is well ahead of what he did last year.
A third quarterback was also a surprising name, but it’s hard to argue with the inclusion of New England Patriots QB Drake Maye. Maye leads the NFL with a 72 percent completion rate in the two minute drill, plus he’s third in yards per attempt at 9.2 and tied for seventh in touchdown passes with three.
The key to his jump has been working with new coordinator Josh McDaniels, who used to do this sort of thing all the time with QB Tom Brady back in the day. He’s been drilling Maye about smart situational football, and his lessons are taking hold in a big way.
The final name is QB Aaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is stunning, to say the least. Rodgers is tied with Maye with three touchdown passes and is fifth in QBR, but it feels like there's some historical bias is at work here.
As for Mahomes, it wouldn’t take much for him to get back at the top of the list, starting with today’s game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Chiefs are probably going to have to score big to win this one, which means Mahomes should get plenty of chances at Arrowhead today.