Within a few days of one another, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield delivered two very different franchises with two very different short-term goals a similar sort of redemption.
Mahomes helped the Chiefs break a losing streak at Heinz Field that existed for longer than he has, and Mayfield snapped a winless streak for a Browns franchise that has long looked hapless but right now has real cause for hope. What they share in common? They're both Big 12 quarterbacks from Texas making an immediate difference in a league that has historically derided air raid signal callers for their inability to deliver the same performances against pro defenses they repeatedly did against college ones.
And not just Big 12 quarterbacks: Texas Tech quarterbacks, a program that has a Mike Leach-style playbook in its blood for the foreseeable future.
Mayfield walked on as a freshman, blew everyone away as a starter, but transferred and enrolled in classes at Oklahoma shortly after the end of the season because he felt he shouldn't have to compete for the starting job. He walked on for the Sooners as well, and quickly became their starter. In his senior year, OU went 12-2 and won the Big 12, and Mayfield completed 285-of-404 passes for 4,627 yards, 43 touchdowns and six interceptions while also rushing for 311 yards on 97 carries for five scores.
Mahomes got his first start in 2014, while Mayfield was sitting out due to transfer rules at Oklahoma, and became the full-time starter in 2015. He finished his junior year, 2016, 388-for-591 for 5,052 yards, 41 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Both were drafted in the first round, evidence the stigma surrounding Big 12 quarterbacks - and others that play in a similar system - is changing, and not because of Mayfield or Mahomes, though they are beneficiaries of that change.
The NFL has, through evolutions in scheme and play-calling as well as changes to the rule book, become more and more friendly to big-armed quarterbacks. Teams are spending high draft picks not just on fast, long receivers with unbelievable hand, eye and foot coordination, but on similarly-gifted defensive backs that have the ability to cover those kinds of receivers one-on-one.
Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Tyreek Hill, Odell Beckham Jr. All the kind of wide receivers you can build an offense around, with the speed to beat defenders and run underneath 50-yard passes. What the NFL has been lacking, in an age of equally-impressive edge rushers, is mobile quarterbacks that can make those throws while escaping pressure and forcing defenses to dedicate a defender as a spy. Ben Roethlisberger can bomb throws and stay on his feet because of mass, but his legs don't require a linebacker to catch.
It's too early to anoint them as the the next generation of NFL quarterbacks, but their early success, especially if it continues, will be another step toward a more level playing field for quarterbacks in pass-happy schemes and could help similar players down the road get another look, another workout, another chance to prove themselves.