Patrick Mahomes has entered his sixth season in the NFL. He has participated in six AFC Championship Games and four Super Bowls during that time. He has achieved three Super Bowl victories, three Super Bowl MVPs, and two league MVPs.
Mahomes stands alone without a peer. While Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson are exceptional players, they do not reach the level of Mahomes.
The only debate worth having regarding Mahomes, after six years, is where he ranks in NFL history.
Tom Brady, with his seven Super Bowl rings, is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time. No reasonable person would argue against Brady deserving that title.
However, it is precisely that title that Mahomes now strives for.
During an interview on Will Cain’s Fox News Digital show, we discussed Mahomes’ pursuit to surpass Brady. Will and I ultimately agreed that Mahomes does not need to win seven Super Bowls to surpass Brady.
First, let’s evaluate Mahomes’ current standing.
Patrick Mahomes already has more Super Bowl victories and playoff wins than legendary quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, John Elway, Aaron Rodgers, and Brett Favre.
Troy Aikman is tied with Mahomes in Super Bowl wins, with both having three. Terry Bradshaw leads with four. However, Mahomes is undeniably a superior player to Aikman and Bradshaw. Even they would likely admit it.
This leaves us with one obstacle between Mahomes and Brady: Joe Montana.
Mahomes has not yet surpassed Montana. Montana was considered the greatest of all time until Brady won his fifth Super Bowl in 2014-15. Montana boasts a perfect 4-0 record in Super Bowls, never throwing an interception. That level of performance is reminiscent of Michael Jordan.
However, the foundation of Montana’s superiority over Mahomes is beginning to crack.
Mahomes is just one playoff win away from tying Montana’s record of 16, with only Brady ahead of him at 35. It is a safe bet that Mahomes will surpass Montana in this category.
Considering Mahomes is only 28 years old, the odds are in his favor to surpass Montana’s Super Bowl victories, as he trails by only one.
Patrick Mahomes is already the third-best quarterback in NFL history. By the time he turns 30, he may very well claim the second spot.
In Tampa, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs shakes hands with Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after defeating the Buccaneers 41-31 at Raymond James Stadium on October 2, 2022. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
This brings us to the Brady vs. Mahomes debate and back to my conversation with Will.
Mahomes must continue winning Super Bowls to surpass Brady. However, the magic number does not have to be seven specifically. Bill Russell holds 11 NBA championships, yet no one honestly argues that he is better than Michael Jordan, who has six.
And for good reason: Jordan was superior to Russell.
If all 30 NBA general managers were asked to choose between prime Michael Jordan and prime Bill Russell to start a team and take the final shot, they would undoubtedly choose Jordan.
Both basketball and football are team sports where championships matter greatly. However, championship wins do not tell the whole story.
Now let’s examine Brady as a player:
Tom Brady never possessed the strongest arm, the greatest mobility, or the physical attributes to match up against John Elway or Dan Marino in terms of raw talent.
He compensated for his physical limitations with leadership, resilience, wit, and determination. Even the most talented quarterbacks of his era could not compete with Brady when it came to intangible qualities.
Mahomes, on the other hand, can.
He proved it on Sunday, overcoming a double-digit deficit for the third time in a Super Bowl, displaying nerves of steel. Patrick Mahomes possesses the physical abilities of Aaron Rodgers and the mental acumen of Tom Brady.
Rodgers would not maintain his composure in this moment, and Brady could not make this play:
If you were to create a player from scratch, it would bear a striking resemblance to Mahomes.
Secondly, the debate surrounding Tom Brady and Bill Belichick only existed because Brady resembled more of a Brock Purdy than a Patrick Mahomes during his first three Super Bowls.
He was a game-manager who complemented a great defense and system.
Of course, Brady eventually grew into “the guy” later in his career. However, it was not until his seventh season as a starter that he won his first league MVP.
Brady was only unquestionably the “best quarterback in the NFL” for about three or four of his 23 seasons.
Even during the 2014-2020 stretch when Brady won four Super Bowls, few analysts ranked him as the best player in the game. That title mostly belonged to Rodgers and later Mahomes.
Now, consider this: Patrick Mahomes has been widely regarded as the best quarterback in the NFL since his first season as a starter.
Mahomes has already held the unofficial title of “the best QB in the game” for a longer period than Brady did.
Brady did defeat Mahomes twice in the postseason. However, it is difficult to use those two matchups as definitive proof of anything.
In the first meeting, during Mahomes’ first season as a starter, the Chiefs had the Patriots beaten in the AFC Championship Game if not for Dee Ford lining up offsides, costing Kansas City the victory. In the second meeting, the 2021 Super Bowl, Mahomes had no chance behind a depleted offensive line missing both starting tackles.
Those games do not hold much weight in the overall debate.
In simple terms, Patrick Mahomes is a superior player to Tom Brady. He can do more with less.
And he has already proven it.
Mahomes recently led a group of average receivers who led the NFL in dropped passes to a Super Bowl victory without his All-Pro left guard, facing the toughest postseason road to a title ever based on the DVOA of their opponents.
He won last season’s Super Bowl while dealing with a high-ankle sprain against a Philadelphia Eagles team that was superior on both sides of the ball.
If Mahomes were to win six or even five Super Bowls, would NFL teams still choose Brady at his peak over Mahomes at his?
It seems unlikely.
During Sunday’s game, Tony Romo referred to Mahomes as the “Michael Jordan of the NFL” as he threw the game-winning touchdown. This nickname is fitting.
According to the Source outkick.com