Tom Brady Says KC Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes ‘Stands Out’ as His Potential NFL Successor

As Patrick Mahomes advances through his seventh season in the NFL and his sixth campaign as the full-time starter for the Kansas City Chiefs, he's only continuing to add to what's been arguably the best start to a career ever. With multiple Super Bowl rings, two NFL MVPs and several AFC Championship Game appearances on his resume, he's already cementing his status as a Hall of Fame signal-caller despite being just 28 years old.

Considering all he's done, speculation about Mahomes's ranking on the NFL's historical quarterback ladder is only natural. Tom Brady is still viewed as the near-consensus greatest of all time or 'GOAT,' and it's unlikely that anyone will be able to unseat him for quite a while. With that said, could Mahomes be the one to eventually do it?

Appearing on a recent episode of his Let's Go! podcast, Brady and Jim Gray were joined by legendary former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal. After discussing motivation, success and more, O'Neal asked Brady near the end of the show who his potential successor may be. Brady's answer: Mahomes.

"Good question. I think when I'm looking at guys in pro football, quarterbacks, Patrick's the one that really stands out and has [done] so. They've done a great job since he's really taken over. And he's got a really great coach, like I was fortunate [to have], like you were fortunate [to have] that helps you and is there for you when things are going good and not good. Gives you the humble pie when things are going good and knows how to pick you up when things aren't good."

Going from a budding 'GOAT' to the actual one is much easier said than done. For example, Peyton Manning was initially viewed by some as better than Brady due to his raw stats being so impressive early in their respective careers. Over time, however, Brady's team accomplishments and accolades surpassed Manning's and his career lasted longer than that of his Hall of Fame counterpart. A more modern example is Aaron Rodgers posting some of the most efficient quarterback numbers ever to start his career. He also won a Super Bowl at the end of his age-28 season, although he's never managed to get back to the big game. Mahomes, on the other hand, has the combination of numbers and hardware to challenge for the crown.

Longevity will be the key that either unlocks Mahomes's best-ever potential or turns that lock the other way. Brady played for 23 years, with two of those being one-game seasons. Even then, though, that's still over two decades of all-world play that resulted in 15 Pro Bowls, seven championships, three All-Pro nods, three MVPs and much more. Mahomes is on his way to matching some of that, but it's far from a guarantee. He has a ton of work to do still, which was Brady's final point. It's hard to play for that long and sustain success:

"It's going to be interesting. People have to do it for a long time, I did it for a long time. When I look at my career, I was able to do it every single year for basically every single game. I missed twice: once when I got suspended for four games and once when I tore my ACL on a hit. Other than that, I showed up every week. Now every game wasn't perfect, but every game was pretty good. Most of the time, I never put our team in a position to lose, and there's very few guys like that that I'm watching over and over and over.

"I think, unfortunately, the way the game's going, a lot of the guys are running the ball a lot more and it just makes for a shorter career. They've loosened the rules up a little bit, we've talked about this a few times on the show, but some of the rules in regard to hitting the quarterback, so now it's allowing quarterbacks to run more. But running quarterbacks don't last that long. I don't know who can play 21 years. I really don't. I know what it took, and it took a lot."

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