Led by Patrick Mahomes, NFL quarterbacks have entered their transformative athlete generation

Welcome to the next generation of NFL quarterback play. (Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports)A new guard has truly arrived at the most macroscopic position in American sports.

The Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan generation of quarterbacks is mostly out of the league, creating a pathway for the newest generation of heroes to take over the game and start forging their own legacies free of the past's shadows.

The gravitational pull of the quarterback is not a new phenomenon for teams or fans to experience, but the new stars at the position are taking the term “hero” in the metaphysical sense — the athleticism of these new quarterbacks is changing the landscape of how…