NFL
The 10 Reasons Patrick Mahomes Will Become the GOAT
Breaking down the factors that give Patrick Mahomes a legitimate case to one day be considered the Greatest of All-Time (GOAT)
Arrowhead GUys
Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrate Patrick Mahomes on his 27th birthday, making it a great time to look back on this article before Super Bowl 52 highlighting the 10 reasons Mahomes will become the GOAT.
When Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday in Super Bowl 55, it will be the first time ever two of the most recent QB champions will battle it out with another title on the line. It’s also the one game fans will likely look back and point to constantly during future conversations about the Greatest Player of All-Time, that can dramatically shift the narrative in the grand scheme of things, depending on whose team wins or loses this one game.
Tom Brady is universally viewed as the current GOAT as a 6x Super Bowl Champion and 3x MVP, but even he wasn’t accomplishing what Mahomes has this early in his career. If it wasn’t for Brady making the rare decision to play into his 40’s and becoming the oldest QB ever to play in a Super Bowl two years ago, Mahomes could realistically be days away from becoming a 3x Super Bowl champion during his first three years of being an NFL starting quarterback.
Mahomes is doing things nobody has ever done before that has him on the fast track to being considered the greatest to ever play the game, however, none of that will likely matter if he loses this game to Tom Brady’s Buccaneers. Trailing seven Super Bowls to one is a HUGE deficit to overcome plus the two playoff losses Mahomes would have in his career thus far would both be to Brady.
So no matter how many records he breaks or titles he wins, if the Chiefs fall short on Sunday, it seems nearly impossible for him to ever catch the standard Brady has set. BUT if he can lead KC to victory over the great Tom Brady, Mahomes will be elevated into rare air with a clear path to become the GOAT for these 10 reasons:
The game of football is a very physical sport, but its most important position can only be mastered with mental excellence. Tom Brady is one of the few players in history, along with Peyton Manning and possibly Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, that knows X’s and O’s like the back of his hand, and can read defenses like a book. Patrick Mahomes is only 25 years old with just three years of starting experience, but he’s already shown a knack for understanding exactly how to attack defenses and how to overcome whatever the opposing DC’s game plan is.
Mahomes said in an interview on LeBron’s show, “The Shop” that he didn’t even understand those kinds of tendencies and recognizing defenses during his MVP season where he recorded 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns, but he’s now developing that skill and taking his game to the next level by figuring out exactly how to beat every kind of coverage defensive coordinators choose to go with.
This is only going to improve the more games Mahomes plays, yet it’s already at a A+ level. It was seen right from the jump in his first trip to Pittsburgh in 2018 when he torched the Steelers’ complex zone defense for SIX touchdowns or when Bill Belichick shut KC out in the first half of the AFC Championship, before Mahomes figured it out and scored the most 4th Quarter points (24) against a Belichick-coached team ever. The QB position takes more mental ability than any other position in sports and Mahomes is already acing the tests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEUQrfUnstQ
Tom Brady isn’t the greatest athlete, or has the best arm, but he definitely has a case to be considered the greatest leader in professional sports which was a major factor in New England’s 21st century dynasty. It was hard to envision anybody ever winning as much as TB12 has in his career alongside a mastermind HC in Bill Belichick, but KC’s signal-caller has already matched him as now the only two QBs to go 25-1 over a 26-game span over the last 30 years, and has surpassed him as the youngest starting quarterback to play in a Super Bowl plus the youngest to reach multiple Championships now as well.
Winning is the name of the game and it all starts at the top with leadership. Even at a young age, Mahomes has shown an amazing ability to lead early in his professional career. Most notably, when down 24-0 in KC’s first playoff game last year, Mahomes motivated his team by telling them “every play, let’s do something special.” They ended up scoring a touchdown on every single one of their next seven drives with 48 unanswered points.
Before the biggest play of Super Bowl 54, the 49ers had all the momentum up 20-0 with eight minutes remaining until Mahomes asked for ‘Wasp’, a play known as the game-changer in KC’s first Super Bowl victory in 50 years. The FRANCH15E is a natural leader due to his unwavering confidence and is respected by his teammates because he’s genuinely a great guy. He started the ‘15 And Mahomies‘ Foundation which has helped give back to the Kansas City community and he has been a leader among NFL players in the fight for equality.
Mahomes has many physical traits and characteristics that has fueled his success, but it’s his magnificent mental understanding of the game as well as his commanding leadership that has helped players around him buy in and even when the team is down by double-digits, they know they can win because they’re playing with this guy. That’s leadership at the highest level and a testament to his greatness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVWpIPcBljI
When games, seasons, or legacies are on the line, sometimes it only takes one or two plays to change everything. In those moments, the cream of the crop rises to the top. For some, the moment is too big and they crumble. Look at the Super Bowl last year where the 49ers were down by four points with under two minutes remaining and on 3rd & 10 had Emmanuel Sanders WIDE OPEN for a touchdown, but Jimmy Garoppolo choked under pressure and missed the biggest throw of his career.
On the other sideline was Patrick Mahomes who made multiple mistakes early in the game, but when it mattered most, led his team to three straight scoring drives in the final seven minutes and executed time and time again with their backs against the wall. Tom Brady has made a career out of performing in the clutch and is credited with orchestrating the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history when the Patriots were notoriously down 28-3 with under 20 minutes to play. It was that 5th Championship victory and the manner in which he did it that catapulted TB12 prominently into the GOAT conversation.
While Brady’s clutch success in New England hasn’t exactly carried over to Tampa Bay, Mahomes is responsible for the t-most comeback wins (10) over a single regular season in NFL history this year. The Chiefs trailed in 12 games overall this year (excluding Week 17 where Mahomes and the starters didn’t play). Mahomes brought them back to victory in 11 of them. He has never lost a game by more than one possession in the NFL and led KC to double-digit comeback victories in every one of their playoff games last year, and did it again in the AFC Championship this year.
As seemingly unstoppable as Brady was in the clutch during his New England days, it’s literally impossible to be as good as Mahomes has been when it matters most. For all the wins and game-winning drives produced by TB12, there were also some season-ending turnovers and failed conversions that ultimately cost the Patriots and prevented him from being a 10 or 12-time champion.
The only time Mahomes has lost in the postseason was one game where Dee Ford was offsides on the game-sealing INT before Mahomes then pulled off a FG-drive with less than 40 seconds left, but lost the coin toss in OT and his defense let him down again. If there’s one drive to win the game, every person who watches and knows the game of football is picking Patrick Mahomes to lead the way and that’s a GOAT quality to have.
As important as the intangibles and mental aspects of the game are, those are all things that the current GOAT is also the greatest at. Mahomes has a chance to surpass Brady in all three of those categories, but many would agree he’s not there yet. However, nobody can deny that Mahomes’ arm talent right now is significantly better than Brady’s ever was. While Tom was known for dinks and dunks and meticulously moving the ball down the field one play at a time, Patrick can unleash the cannon at any time from any where. He can be in the pocket, out of the pocket, standing up, on the run, going left, or going right, it doesn’t matter.
He’s one of the few guys that can make any throw from any angle and it’s truly special to watch unfold. While Brady proved the deep ball and off-platform throws aren’t required to win games, the Greatest of All-Time isn’t SOLELY based on wins and losses. At the end of the day, it’s a team sport with 11 players vs. 11 players on two sides of the ball (so really 22 vs. 22) plus all six phases of special teams (kickoff, kick return, field goal, field goal block, punt, punt return).
While wins are really a team accomplishment, being able to do things that nobody else can, put amazing highlights on film, and entertain fans with memorable moments are also factors in the GOAT conversation. Any wide receiver would want to play with Patrick due to his big arm and ability to hit them on any kind of route. Whether he ends up as the GOAT or not, his career highlight tape will be up there with anyone, and it’s largely due to his unprecedented arm talent that even Aaron Rodgers has to admire.
The art of extending plays doesn’t require Lamar Jackson-esque athleticism or Aaron Rodgers-level awareness. Tom Brady is one of the best ever at maneuvering around the pocket to avoid rushers, extend plays, and give his receivers more time to get open. It’s as much a mental thing as it is physical with leg-eye coordination being the key skill needed.
Head Coaches and play-callers try to put their players in the best position to succeed by calling plays that make it easy for the quarterback to find the open guy. That’s much easier said than done against some of the fastest, biggest, and strongest people on the planet trying to stop them. What can’t be coached is the natural ability to move around the pocket, evade rushers who get paid to tackle the guy with the ball, and then find a way to hit a player wearing the same jersey.
Even just five years ago, barely any quarterbacks were able to consistently break down the pocket and receive an extra 2-3 seconds before needing to make a decision. It’s become a little more saturated now with the Josh Allen’s, Baker Mayfield’s, and Kyler Murray’s of the world, yet, it’s still a very important quality to have to be successful in the National Football League and it’s hard to consider anyone better at it than Mahomes himself.
While Mahomes has proven he can beat teams solely in the pocket, he’s most lethal when he evades the pocket, runs to his right, and gives his receivers 5-10 seconds to get open. It doesn’t matter if they’re facing a secondary of Jalen Ramsey, Stephon Gilmore, Jamal Adams, and Minkah Fitzpatrick, they’re not going to be able to cover every player who’s job is to get open for that long. Escaping the pocket, extending the play, and moving the chains has become an incredibly valuable skill, and it’s another weapon Mahomes has in his arsenal to one day become the GOAT.
While Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes are both great at extending plays within the pocket, Mahomes has a clear advantage over Brady when they keep the ball passed the line of scrimmage. What makes Patrick Mahomes so dangerous is he’s not only a threat to pass the ball 50 yards down the field, but he has no problem hitting his guys underneath or running for first down after first down if that’s what the defense gives him.
His legs adding a rushing threat to his game is a game-changer and what makes Mahomes so unstoppable. It adds an entire new dimension to the offense that gives him an extra option to choose every single time he hikes the ball. Nobody is confusing him with Lamar Jackson or even Josh Allen from a rushing standpoint, but he has the athleticism necessary to run for first downs and force the defense to take that into account which opens up the rest of the field even more. It’s another element to Mahomes’ game that separates him from the current GOAT and makes him an all-time great player himself.
Football is the greatest team sport there is. No one player or position can succeed without help from their teammates. Specifically, at the QB position, signal-callers are heavily reliant on their O-Line to block the opposing defenders, receivers to quickly get open, and ball carriers to make plays and get extra yards after the catch.
Tom Brady benefitted from a few Hall of Fame weapons in Rob Gronkowski, the most dominant TE to ever play the game, as well as Wes Welker, a player who completely reinvented the slot WR position. Not to mention Randy Moss who set records alongside Brady during their undefeated 2007 regular season, and the player who has caught more balls from Brady than anyone else, Julian Edelman, a Super Bowl MVP and potential Hall of Famer himself.
As great as those players are, Patrick Mahomes might be surrounded by even more amazing talent early in his career. Travis Kelce is closing in on basically any record Gronk still has if he hasn’t surpassed it already. The two all-time Tight Ends are both 31 years old, but Kelce seems to keep trending upward while Gronk continues to decline. With Mahomes throwing him the ball, KillaTrav might go down as the greatest receiving TE the game has ever seen.
Then there is Tyreek Hill, the fastest player to ever step on a football field. The cheetah’s speed cannot be stopped, as defenses can only hope to contain him. Most football minds agree that he’s the most dangerous weapon ever and the best deep threat in NFL history. Both of these two Hall of Fame talents are perfect for Mahomes’ skill-set and help take #15’s game to a whole different level.
Add in a couple other sub-40 speed demons in Mecole Hardman and Sammy Watkins, they collectively form the ‘Legion of Zoom’ and there’s no QB better prepared to take advantage of their special talent than the KC Cannon himself. The Chiefs have found ways to keep all these star players together while staying under the cap, and standout veteran WR’s looking for a ring will put Kansas City among the top of the list in years ahead. Mahomes already has an arsenal of all-time weapons and it might get even better going forward.
One of the biggest debates among football fans was who’s more responsible for the Patriots unprecedented dynasty during the 21st century: Tom Brady or Bill Belichick. While the true answer may never get resolved, TB12 leading Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl in Year 1 while Belichick watches at home has settled the debate in many people’s eyes already.
Either way, Belichick was never an offensive coach. The reason that team was so incredible was Belichick would also ensure the defense was successful while Brady was in charge of leading the offense. It’s a completely different power structure in KC where Andy Reid is the HC of the Chiefs, play-caller, and directly responsible for every x’s and o’s decision on that side of the ball.
This makes Mahomes’ job significantly easier as he has been groomed by the greatest offensive mind in the league. Reid has been highly respected his entire career and the only Head Coach along with Belichick that has been a NFL Head Coach since the beginning of the new millennium.
The one thing holding Reid’s legacy back was not winning a Super Bowl. He overachieved with Donovan McNabb by hosting three straight Conference Championships (winning one but losing to Tom Brady/Bill Belichick’s Patriots in the Super Bowl), produced the best season of Michael Vick’s career, turned Alex Smith into a Pro Bowler, and now developed a raw gunslinger out of Texas Tech into the best player many people have ever seen play the game.
Andy Reid is simply an offensive genius who dials up play-calls nobody has tape on and defensive coordinators don’t know how to game plan against. Tune into a Chiefs game and see some innovative screen calls or jet-motions that manipulate the defense and lead to wide open receivers and running lanes. Andy’s influence over Mahomes can’t be understated and is a big reason why he’s become this successful so quickly and gives the Chiefs a strategic advantage every time they take the field.
On September 17, 1995, the NFL celebrated its 75th anniversary. That same day, Major League RP Pat Mahomes and his wife Randi Mahomes gave birth to their first child, Patrick Lavon Mahomes II. As the son of a professional athlete, Patrick Mahomes was able to witness locker rooms, the behind the scenes of what it takes to play at the highest level, and the work ethic that goes into being a pro.
Mahomes grew up a three-sport star in Texas. He was an excellent pitcher and shortstop, the two most important positions in baseball, which helped being armed with a 96 MPH fastball. There are throwback highlights of him dunking on defenders and draining 3-pointers on the basketball court. And of course, he became a top quarterback in the one state that defines High School football. He was named the Maxpreps Male Athlete of the Year for 2013–2014.
Patrick Mahomes was born to be a great athlete. While his dad and some of his dad’s friends like Alex Rodriguez and Latroy Hawkins advised him to follow his dad’s footsteps into the big leagues, Mahomes II had other plans, accepting a full scholarship to play Quarterback at Texas Tech University. The rest is history.
The son of a MLB pitcher became a national icon on the gridiron and is now on the cusp of winning a second Super Bowl for a city that previously hadn’t seen one in half a century. Unlike Tom Brady, who was the 199th overall Pick in the draft and only became a starting QB because Drew Bledsoe got injured, Mahomes was always destined to be an impact player. His lack of talent alongside him at TTU and reckless play style caused him to fall to the 10th pick, but he had the most raw talent of any NFL Draft prospect ever.
All he needed was to find the right situation. Now that he’s in Kansas City and had a chance to learn under Alex Smith (a notoriously conservative player) and Andy Reid (a notoriously anti-turnover Coach), Mahomes’ biggest weakness has turned into a strength. He’s set numerous records for consecutive pass attempts without an interception and while Tom Brady threw 12 INT this season, Mahomes has thrown 11 INT over the last two years COMBINED.
The Chiefs QB celebrated his 25th birthday on the NFL’s 100th anniversary and it’s only a matter of time before every NFL anniversary highlight clip includes a Mahomes tribute as that name on the back of his jersey becomes an iconic symbol in sports like ‘Jordan,’ ‘Ruth,’ and ‘Brady’ have before him.
Whether Super Bowl 55 is won by the Kansas City Chiefs or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it won’t stop Patrick Mahomes from becoming the face of the NFL. Tom Brady is still in the league, but Mahomes is already arguably the most prominent figure in the sport these days. He’s the one that signed a historic half a billion-dollar contract, has an abundance of endorsements, graced the cover of last year’s Madden video game, and breaks historic records damn near every week.
Winning one Super Bowl like Joe Flacco or Nick Foles deserves credit and admiration, but Patrick Mahomes is the youngest ever to win Super Bowl MVP. Does anyone really believe he’s only going to win one championship in his career even if the Chiefs lose to the Bucs on Sunday? No.
Claiming multiple Championships along with the MVP award he’s already won would immediately insert Mahomes into rare company alongside Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, John Elway, Terry Bradshaw and Bart Starr. Once he inevitably wins his second league MVP, it’ll be just Mahomes, Manning, Montana, and Brady on that list as the new Mount Rushmore of all-time NFL QBs with multiple MVPs and multiple Super Bowls.
The accomplishments Mahomes already has achieved is unprecedented, and people have to think about of all the records he’s going to have when it’s all said and done. He has no weaknesses in his game, yet still has over a decade to improve. Whether he puts up the best numbers in any given year to win the MVP award, he’s the actual most valuable player in the league for years to come as every single team in the league would give up any player on their roster for Mahomes in a heartbeat.
The former Texas Tech gunslinger has the highest ceiling of any player ever and has already shown all the right signs (physically and mentally) of being able to reach that. He’s already playing at a level as high as there has ever been, yet the 25-year-old will likely be even better over the next 10-15 years and cement his legacy as the GREATEST OF ALL-TIME.
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