Patrick Mahomes and four other quarterbacks who could hav

e been baseball stars Before Patrick Mahomes was chosen by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 10th pick of the 2017 NFL draft Khalen Saunders black jersey , he had already been a draft pick.In the 2014 MLB draft, the Detroit Tigers selected Mahomes — then just 18 — in the 37th round (1120th overall) as a right-handed pitcher out of high school.Mahomes’ father, Pat I, had an 11-year career as an MLB pitcher.This background — along with the cannon attached to his son’s right shoulder — made the boy a high-risk pick, but one with a high ceiling for potential. Mahomes, however, had different plans. He was set on hanging up his glove to pursue a college football career as a quarterback at Texas Tech. And seeing how things are looking right now for the 22-year-old, he might have made the right choice.But Mahomes isn’t the only NFL quarterback that’s been faced with a similar dilemma. Here are four other quarterbacks who almost traded the gridiron for the pitcher’s mound:Dan Marino Photo by Al Bello/Getty ImagesOne of the best NFL passers of all time and a 2005 Pro Hall of Fame inductee, Marino had a 17-year career with the Miami Dolphins.But he was once drafted to be a pitcher by the Kansas City Royals in the fourth round — the 99th pick — of the 1979 draft. Colin Kaepernick Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports IllustratedA two-time California all-state baseball player in high school, Kaepernick could easily have pursued a successful career as an MLB pitcher, but instead opted to continue playing college football at the University of Nevada. Kaepernick was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 43rd round (1310th overall) of the 2009 MLB draft, during his third official season with the Wolf Pack.Brandon Weeden Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty ImagesThis current Houston Texans quarterback once had a promising pro baseball career that went south. Taken in the second round of the 2002 draft (71st overall) by the New York Yankees right out of high school, Weeden pitched in the minor leagues for five seasons. However, his pitching career never quite took off Khalen Saunders Jersey Mens , and in 2006, Weeden decided to enroll at Oklahoma State.He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round (22nd overall) of the NFL draft in 2012.Troy Aikman Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty ImagesThe Hall of Fame NFL quarterback was a successful pitcher and shortstop in high school, and the New York Mets tried to sign him to a baseball contract. But Aikman wanted to play football.Still, during his career at the University of Oklahoma, the Sooners baseball team sought — and received — permission from head football coach Barry Switzer for Aikman to play both sports.He never did, and eventually transferred to UCLA before being drafted into the NFL in with the first overall pick in 1989.The key to the relationship between Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes After Wednesday’s media appearances at Arrowhead Stadium, much was made about how certain players talk.But going into Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars — likely the most important test the Kansas City Chiefs have faced this season — a more important story was how players and coaches listen.That was what we heard from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was asked about his sideline meetings with head coach Andy Reid.“First off, he always asks me what I am seeing out there and what is going on out there,” said Mahomes. “Then he asks what I am thinking and shows me what he is thinking, and we get on the same page. That goes with Coach Reid, Kafka, Bieniemy — and Chad Henne — all those guys are giving me what they are thinking. At the same time, we are all trying to get on the same page to go out there and run a tight unit.”Reid confirmed Mahomes’ side of the story.“I do a lot of listening when I’m over there Khalen Saunders Jersey nfl draft , and just see where he is at, see what he is seeing, which is real important,” he said. “He’s got great vision, but just so we’re on the same page is important. He knows what I’m thinking, I know what he’s thinking, he’s got great feedback. Mike Kafka’s right there so he’ll talk with him — and Chad Henne is a big part of that too. I’m able to give him a little bit of a heads up on maybe what I’m thinking going forward. He gives me an idea of what he likes or sees and we’ve just got to put it together and go with that.”Photo by John Weast/Getty ImagesMahomes said that the group approach to the offense is not only different than what he experienced in college at Texas Tech, but also better.“I had Coach Kingsbury and we were always trying to be on the same page with what was going on, but I didn’t have the different voices of Coach Bieniemy,Kafka, Reid and Chad.You get different things from each person that you can build into one thing and get things going from there.” For Reid, it’s much like the experience he’s had with other successful quarterbacks in his career.Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images“I did that with Donovan McNabb when he was young, early,” Reid said. “Really even Alex Smith when he first came here Eric Murray Jersey , because it was important — he was new to the offense.But Alex had the game experience.I enjoy that part. He gives you great feedback so if you’re going over there and it’s just, ‘Call what you want to call,’ then you don’t need to do that, but having that open communication I think is good.”Mahomes credited the exchange of ideas as being one of the contributing factors in the win against Denver on Monday night.“Just getting on the same page and figuring out what we can do that works. Coach Kafka, Bieniemy, Reid — all of us are giving ideas to each other and getting on the same page of what we all like against the defense they are showing out there. I feel like it paid off this last week in figuring out what we needed to do to go into the fourth quarter strong.”Speaking about their upcoming opponent, you could see that the head coach and his quarterback were on the same page days before the game is to begin.“We look forward to playing Jacksonville,” Reid said. “We know they are a good football team. They have done a heck of a job down there with the whole organization and with the team in particular.Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images“We have played some good defenses here and Jacksonville is a good defense and arguably the best in the NFL,” Reid continued. “That is why you do that. You love that challenge of playing against good players.”“[Jacksonville has] a great scheme,” said Mahomes. “They do a lot of things really well. They do a lot of the same stuff, but they do it to a very high pristine type of thing. They have a ton of talent over there.We have to utilize our offense and our weapons and try to do what we can to attack them.”Mahomes was then asked about making offensive adjustments — as the Chiefs were forced to do while playing Denver on Monday night.“I am still learning, but trying to make adjustments on the fly is something I didn’t have to do as much in college, and here you have to make them because defenses throw unscouted looks out there. Kind of like the first half of this last game, they threw us a lot of different blitzes and things we hadn’t seen before from that defense so far this year. For us Kendall Fuller Jersey , we just have to get on the same page and figure out those looks and make adjustments to make our plays work.”Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty ImagesBut Mahomes said that finding success against the Denver Broncos was a confidence-builder for him.“Being able to go up against stuff you are not necessarily sure of because it’s a blitz you haven’t seen before and you’re able to have success against it — that is how football works” he explained. “You are going to see unscouted stuff. You are going to have adverse situations in games and have to find ways to come out with wins in them.”Other notes from Wednesday’s media appearancesReid (unsurprisingly) said that Eric Berry is still being evaluated day to day. “One thing you know about Eric, you have no questions that he wants to be there and go. He is trying everything he can to get himself out there. We just take it day-by-day, and keep doing that.We have great communication with him and we know his desire is to be there. We want him to be smart, we want to be smart with it. It is a long season.”Reid also said the team isn’t putting pressure on Berry.“We would never put our guys in a spot like that. We have always been good with this part. We have always said, ‘If you are hurt, go get healed up. We are not going to sit there and pressure you to come back. That is not how we roll.’ But we expect the next guy to jump up and play and play well. That is how we have gone about it. And so that is what we are doing. Eric Murray is getting better every week and doing a nice job for us.”Mahomes spoke about his college teammate Keke Coutee, who had 11 catches in his rookie debut for the Houston Texans against the Indianapolis Colts.“I have known Keke was a special player since he was in ninth grade. I remember him being in Lufkin, which is East Texas, and playing against Robert E. Lee High School as a sophomore in high school and dominating. I remember I ended up going back to Texas Tech that year and I was talking to Coach Kingsbury about him and we ended up getting him there. He has always had a great feel for the game and knows how to find his way open. He has the athleticism to make a lot of plays.”