49ers face red-hot Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes next

SANTA CLARA

His name is Patrick Mahomes, he’s the hottest young quarterback in the NFL and the 49ers could have drafted him. They didn’t. Now, they have to face him Sunday, and they’re six-and-a-half-point underdogs.

Mahomes, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, started only one game last season as a rookie. This season, through two games, he has thrown 10 touchdown passes, zero interceptions and his quarterback rating is 143.3. Nearly perfect. Perfect is 158.3.

Mahomes comes from a gimmick, college offense at Texas Tech - lots of quick, short passes that often don’t translate to success in the NFL. When he entered the draft in 2017, some experts thought he was a product of that offense. The 49ers still considered drafting him, even met with him before the draft. They needed a quarterback. They hadn’t yet traded for Jimmy Garoppolo and given him a five-year, $137.5 million contract. They passed on Mahomes.

Obviously, the 49ers are happy with Garoppolo. He’s talented, even though he has struggled this season. His passer rating is merely 77.4. Still, he’s only 26.

But Mahomes is 23. And he’s much cheaper than Garoppolo. Mahomes will make “just” $16.4 million through 2020. Had the 49ers known how well he would play early in his career, they might have selected him and never traded for Garoppolo.

Instead, the 49ers used the third pick in the draft on defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, who’s a bust. A part-time player who doesn’t rush the quarterback well.

With the 10th pick, the Chiefs took Mahomes.

“It is tough to evaluate,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday. “You can evaluate talent, and (Mahomes) has a ton of that. You can evaluate the person, who we loved. Handled himself great. Seems very intelligent. Seems like a very good kid. Everyone can see his arm strength. Everyone can see the ability.

“But it’s tough because in a lot of those (gimmick) systems, you don’t get to see everyone really play the position and go through progressions and stay in the pocket all the time. Now, we’ve got two games of him and he’s played unbelievable. He’s made some real big plays. With the talent that he has, with the talent that he has around him, with the system that he has, it doesn’t surprise me.”

Shanahan had a point - Mahomes landed in a terrific spot.

He took over a Chiefs team that won 10 games and made the playoffs last season.

The running back, Kareem Hunt, had 1,327 rushing yards. The tight end, Travis Kelce, had 1,038 receiving yards. And the wide receiver/running back/punt returner, Tyreek Hill, had 1,446 all-purpose yards. Each of those players scored exactly eight touchdowns last season.

During the offseason, the Chiefs signed Sammy Watkins, another explosive receiver who scored eight touchdowns last season for the Los Angeles Rams.

Those are Mahomes’ weapons. He also has a terrific offensive line that has allowed only two sacks this season. And his head coach, Andy Reid, is arguably the best offensive-minded coach in the NFL. Another major advantage for Mahomes.

Here’s one more: He learned from former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, the Chiefs starter last season. Smith mentored Mahomes for a year.

“You guys know Alex,” Reid said Wednesday on a conference call. “You know how he prepares and the kind of person he is. Not everybody goes about their job as thoroughly as Alex does. And Alex is a very intelligent guy on top of all that. So, you combine those two things, that’s why (Smith) has been successful.

“Patrick also is very intelligent and he wants to be good and he’s humble, so he wasn’t afraid to learn from Alex. As a coach, we can tell you to do this and that, but to have (Mahomes) come in and follow somebody who does it perfectly in preparation, that’s something special.”

Smith is extremely careful and rarely throws interceptions. He plays quarterback like an accountant evaluates tax returns, inspecting every decision for flaws, terrified the IRS will call for an audit. He is a safety-first quarterback. So far, Mahomes bears Smith’s influence and has avoided mistakes of over-caution. Mahomes is a gambler by nature. An extremely aggressive downfield passer. He’s averaging a gargantuan 15.3 yards per completion this season. Smith averaged only 11.9 yards per completion for the Chiefs last season.

The best comparison for Mahomes may be another aggressive quarterback Reid used to coach - Brett Favre.

“There are some similarities,” Reid said. “They’re right-handed.” He laughed, then continued. “Favre did it forever. (Mahomes) is still putting his mark on it. We’re not there yet. We’ve got a couple more years to go, and then we can talk about all that.

“I understand the excitement. I’ve got it - everybody is excited. The reality is he has gone through two games, he’s heading for Game 3 and he’s just trying to get ready to play against a good football team.”

A team that didn’t want him.

NOTES

After missing the 30-27 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday with a deep thigh bruise, wide receiver Marquise Goodwin practiced for the first time Wednesday afternoon, limiting his activity to warming up with the wide receivers. He did not participate in seven-on-seven or 11-on-11 team drills.

Before practice, Goodwin spoke at his locker. A reporter asked him if he expects to play Sunday against the Chiefs.

“I’m definitely practicing today,” Goodwin said, unwilling to project ahead. “We’ll just take it a day at a time and see where it goes.”