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Has Patrick Mahomes reached Michael Jordan's level?

Should Chiefs QB be a part of the GOAT discussion?
Stephen Beslic|
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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes already has three Super Bowl rings at the age of 28, highlighted by an incredible 25-22 come-from-behind win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII at the Allegiant Stadium last Sunday.

Mahomes’ latest feat has firmly established his status as the best quarterback, not only in the National Football League but also in the modern era. He is peerless in the league, with the only comparison being the NFL’s “Greatest of All Time,” Tom Brady, who won seven Super Bowl titles.

However, the assertion recently shared by NFL expert Kevin Clark has Mahomes being compared to the NBA’s GOAT, Michael Jordan. It is an intriguing comparison, and while it may be too early in his career to definitively answer that question, there are some compelling arguments for both sides.

Jordan dominated the landscape

The 90s was Jordan’s era and his alone. His greatness and dominance were so overbearing that the only times other teams won NBA titles were when His Airness was either on a self-imposed hiatus or retired. 

Jordan was responsible for altering the legacies of some of the NBA’s greatest players, like Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and Patrick Ewing, who were denied titles because of him.

“Here was a man who entered the league at the tail-end of the Magic vs. Bird rivalry, and for the better part of a decade, caused the legacies of everyone in the league to be sucked by his gravity and obliterated. The NBA in the early 90s was rich with some of the greatest basketball players we have ever seen, and every single one of their legacies was altered because they happened to play in an era with Michael Jordan,” James Dator of SB Nation wrote.

There’s Mahomes, and then, there’s everyone else

In the NFL, Mahomes’ laundry list of achievements has carved out a narrative similar to Jordan’s.

“Mahomes has changed the way we discuss quarterbacks in the NFL in a way nobody ever has — including Tom Brady. When it comes to ranking players at the QB position in the current NFL, talk always begins with Mahomes, then a gap, then debate begins. He’s a player beyond comparison, a tier of his own, a fusion of production and success unlike anything we’ve seen since Brady’s peak,” Dator continued.

“This is why Mahomes is now a Jordan-esque figure.”

"I got a bunch of money on you, don't f*** it up" - Julian Edelman recalls Michael Jordan's message before Super Bowl XLIX

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Stephen Beslic
STEPHEN BESLIC

Stephen Beslic is a writer on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Stephen played basketball from the age of 10 and graduated from Faculty of Economic and Business in Zagreb, Croatia, majoring in Marketing.

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