It’s no secret that football is life in Texas. Does being raised in Texas increase the odds of playing in the NFL? At the quarterback position, it sure does. Entering past last season, 18 NFL quarterbacks are from Texas and of those, nine are starters.
Here are those nine starters listed with their teams and high schools:
- Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (Whitehouse)
- Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (Austin Westlake)
- Nick Foles, Jacksonville Jaguars (Austin Westlake)
- Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions (Highland Park)
- Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans (Big Spring)
- Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (Lake Travis)
- Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (Allen)
- Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders (Fort Bend Clements)
- Case Keenum, Washington Redskins (Abilene Wylie)
With the Chiefs’ win today, two Texas quarterbacks will battle it out next week in the AFC Championship game (Mahomes and Tannehill).
While Texas is leading the numbers of starting quarterbacks, California has seven starters. Ohio, Georgia, and Louisiana all have two apiece.
The culture has changed in the NFL. It used to always be only about the running back position in the ground and pound game. With the importance of spreading the field, the quarterback became the leading role and Texas fell right into that scheme. Starting in 1998, seven-on-seven football in the summer became a competition that grew into huge popularity and even created a state championship competition. The league, played without linemen, provided elite opportunities for the receivers and running backs to intensify and sharpen their pass-and-catch skills along with the quarterback. This also provided insight into how the quarterback can read defenses.
The excitement of watching a running back run up the middle and breaking tackles was losing steam as the idea of playing a wide-open, high-scoring game is what excited the crowd and the players. The “air raid” was generated and the state of Texas has never looked back.
The only elite running back from Texas as of late is Adrian Peterson (Palestine) who plays for the Washington Redskins. This is just more proof that Texas is home to the high-profile quarterback position.
Patrick Mahomes has the potential to become something special and has plenty of time to break NFL records if he can stay healthy. Many Cowboy fans are supporting Mahomes in his postseason stretch into the playoffs. His fanbase was huge while playing high school and college football in Texas. He played college football and baseball at Texas Tech but quit the baseball team after his sophomore year to focus solely on football. Mahomes is the son of former pitcher, Pat Mahomes.
Mahomes was the 2018 NFL Most Valuable Player and is competing to win his first Super Bowl. He joins only Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in throwing at least 50 touchdowns in a season.
Already securing a shot at the AFC Championship game, Tennessee Titans signal-caller Ryan Tannehill is playing at a peak level. Traded from the Miami Dolphins in 2019 and replacing Marcus Mariota has led a spark into the Titans’ offense.
One thing is for certain: there is a kid from Texas playing in a pee-wee league right now who will have a shot at leading an NFL team to a Super Bowl one day.
