SupplantingTom Brady as the GOAT of the NFL is a thought that probably wouldn’t have entered the mind of any sane football fan or expert had it not been for the emergence of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Generally in sports, when one player has reached the pinnacle, he/she has been through the grind for approximately 15-20 years and the said person has been at the top of their game for the most part if not for their entire career.
Dethroning such individuals from the top spot is not something that happens every day. However, when we think about the possibility of Mahomes doing exactly that at the expense of Brady, it brings back memories of tennis and how Roger Federer went past Pete Sampras with his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam in a matter of seven years after Sampras’ retirement.
In the world of sports, records are meant to be broken and the torch is expected to be passed on to the newer generation of talent. But as far as the NFL is concerned, the biggest question doing round currently is whether or not Patrick Mahomes will surpass Tom Brady as the NFL GOAT and if so why he can achieve the improbable.
For the sake of this argument, we will divide the debate into three parts.
Quarterback play
Over his stellar 23 seasons in the NFL, Tom Brady became one of the best quarterbacks in history even if we set aside his seven Super Bowls. He has a plethora of NFL passing records and his longevity certainly helped him get to the top of most stats. However, he didn’t start out like that and it is widely accepted that he won the first three of his Super Bowls due to a phenomenal defense.
As a matter of fact, his first 4,000-plus-yard passing season came in his sixth year after he had three rings to his name. In comparison, Mahomes has been the focal point of the Chiefs offense since his first year as a starter in 2018. His first season as a starter saw him pass for over 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns as he marshaled the Kansas City offense all the way to the AFC Championship game.
Since then, Mahomes has been the architect of the team, leading from the front, and guiding the Chiefs to three Super Bowls in five years. And while the 2023 season’s success is credited more to the Chiefs’ defense, Mahomes’ play was not as much at fault as that of his receivers who dropped an embarrassment of passes.
Moreover, even though Brady had a commendable pocket presence and stood tall until he found his target, Mahomes ability to scramble and pick up chunks of yardage as and when necessary is a skill that Brady never had.
Much of Brady’s quarterback play in the early part of his career can be attributed to the level he possessed in college. He was never the exceptional player that he turned out to be later on and that is also evident from the fact that the Patriots selected him at pick 199 in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft.
In contrast, Mahomes, who wasn’t regarded as the best QB of his class was still considered a first-round pick and the Chiefs even moved up to get him. Thus, it is hard to imagine Mahomes’ career taking a turn where he has to rely heavily upon the defense to get him another ring.
Statistics
Talking about the stats of both players, Brady, who played for 23 seasons has set an immense number of records with his longevity. Mahomes is still miles behind him at the moment, but there is every possibility that he may match Brady in terms of longevity especially if he is chasing his GOAT status.
Having said that, if we are to compare the stats of both players after the first seven seasons of their respective careers, it is quite evident that Mahomes is quite a way ahead. After seven seasons, Mahomes has 28,424 passing yards as against Brady’s 21,564 which is nearly two full seasons worth of yardage.
Mahomes has a total of 219 passing touchdowns thus far which is much more than Brady’s 147. If Mahomes stays the course he will surpass Brady’s touchdown count with many seasons to spare. On the other hand, Mahomes has thrown 63 interceptions through his seven years while Brady had 78 at that point of his career.
Furthermore, Mahomes currently has a passer rating of 103.5 which again is significantly higher than Brady’s 81.9 at the time. Eventually, Brady ended his career at 97.2 which was a remarkable turnaround so only time will tell how this stat ends up.
Without going into depth for the postseason, we can conclude that most of the stats are similar to what the picture is in the regular season. In the postseason, Mahomes has 5,135 passing yards from his 18 games while Brady had 4,108 from his first 18 games (which coincidentally was seven seasons).
Mahomes has 41 touchdowns and eight interceptions while Brady’s numbers read 28 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Mahomes currently has the highest passer rating in the history of the NFL which stands at 105.8, while Brady’s passer rating through his first seven postseasons was 83.5. In the playoffs, Brady finished with an overall passer rating of 89.8 by the end of his career.
Achievements and accolades
On to probably the most important aspect of this debate, and that is the achievements and accolades. There are several factors that go into such a debate since this argument is generally divided into those who believe that more rings means he/she is the better player, while many others look at the overall body of work to crown their GOAT.
If we were to consider that only rings matter in this discussion, then it is like saying that the GOAT of the NBA is Bill Russell. And with all due respect to the late great Russell, nobody truly considers him the goat even though he may make the list of the greatest NBA players ever.
Judging by that metric, it is safe to conclude that at the end of Mahomes career, this debate will be concluded on many other notable factors other than the number of rings each player has. Of course, if Mahomes were to never win another ring, then that would tilt the balance heavily in favor of Brady as the gap between seven and three is like two Hall of Fame careers at the very least.
In any case, coming back to the present, Mahomes achievements currently read as follows:
3 time Super Bowl Champion
3 time Super Bowl MVP
2 time NFL MVP
NFL Offensive Player of the Year
2 time First-team All-Pro
Second-team All-Pro
6 time Pro Bowler
2 time NFL passing touchdowns leader
NFL passing yards leader
In comparison to that Brady’s achievements are as follows:
7 time Super Bowl Champion
5 time Super Bowl MVP
3 time NFL MVP
2 time NFL Offensive Player of the Year
NFL Comeback Player of the Year
3 time First-team All-Pro
3 time Second-team All-Pro
15 time Pro Bowler
5 time NFL passing touchdowns leader
4 time NFL passing yards leader
Now, considering that Brady played a whopping total of 23 seasons in the NFL, and Mahomes has just finished his seventh season and is only 28 years old, there is a strong case to be made that the Chiefs QB can catch Brady in most of these key accomplishments.
Even now after playing for a third of Brady’s career, Mahomes has nearly half of most of Brady’s accomplishments which is an astonishing fact.
In conclusion, should Patrick Mahomes continue his trajectory and play in the league for at least another 12-14 years, we may be referring to him as the out-and-out GOAT of the NFL.
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