Patrick Mahomes Concedes GOAT Debate to Patriots' Tom Brady
Patrick Mahomes made it clear that New England Patriots legend Tom Brady is still chief among NFL quarterbacks.
It'll likely do little to stifle the NFL offseason's most prevalent talking point, but Mahomes firmly declared that he still views Brady as the greatest passer in NFL history during a Tuesday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."
"He is the greatest of all time, and I like being compared to him, but I still have so long that I have to go in my career if you look at the longevity, the consistent greatness that he had every single year,” Mahomes said. “All I can do is just try to continue to be the best me every single day that I have and have no regrets."
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Mahomes is fresh off his third Super Bowl triumph, earning MVP honors as his Kansas City Chiefs earned a 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers. That win put him in rare air, as Mahomes joins Brady, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw, and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks to oversee three victories on Super Sunday. Mahomes would potentially have five rings if not for Brady: his Patriots conquered Kansas City during Mahomes' first year at the offensive helm and he later defended his newfound South Floridian turf with a 31-9 victory in Super Bowl LV as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Innumerable seconds on the 24-hour news cycle have been dedicated to comparing the careers of Brady and Mahomes. Both men had three Super Bowl rings by the time they were 28 years old and Mahomes' Chiefs seem well poised to run things back with his trusted advisors like Travis Kelce and Isiah Pacheco. For all he accomplished, the path to the NFL's first three-peat proved to be too much for Brady to traverse, though it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Mahomes told McAfee that he plans to channel Brady as he prepares to embark on a pressure-packed path to No. 4.
"I actually heard Tom say this a while back and that was his goal was just to be the best version of Tom Brady he could be," Mahomes recalled. "All that other stuff kind of happens. All that other stuff kind of comes with it if you continue to work hard and continue to get great teammates around you. I’ve been blessed, man."
"I've been blessed to be in a great organization with great players, and if I can just continue to work the way I work, I’ll have no regrets about how ever my career ends."
