With Patrick Mahomes winning his third Super Bowl ring in five years on Sunday, many are wondering whether he can already be considered the best quarterback of all time ahead of Tom Brady.
While it may not be an easy question, some don’t hesitate to rank the Texas Tech product above the seven-time Super Bowl champ. In fact, former defensive end Chris Long considers Mahomes as the GOAT despite having played with Brady in Foxborough.
‘The greatness they have at the top in this organization, the core players. That’s what shines through and now the toughest work for him is ahead. 28-year-old Patrick Mahomes, and I played with Brady – I love Tom Brady, I been calling him the GOAT for years. But 28-year-old Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback I’ve ever seen,” Long said on Inside the NFL, via the Daily Mail.
Chris Long impressed by Mahomes, Chiefs
Long, 38, spent one season next to Brady at the New England Patriots, being part of the team that won Super Bowl LI. Drafted second overall by the Rams in 2008, he went on to win another ring with the Philadelphia Eagles a year after leaving the Pats, playing Brady and company on the big game.
Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots is tackled by Chris Long #56 of the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth quarter in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium on February 4, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Now that he’s away from the gridiron, the Virginia product explained what an impression Mahomes and company have made on him this year. Kansas City was not seen as a strong contender despite being the defending champion, yet it went on to make it back-to-back championships in great fashion.
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“This run, they beat the fastest team, they beat the hottest team in a row, and then the MVP and the best team,” Long added. “They beat all those teams, on the road. They got beat by the Raiders at home, like the things that they did to get to where they got to at the end of the season [were] incredible.“
At 28, Mahomes is four rings shy of matching Brady’s impressive record of Super Bowl wins. Whether he’ll get there remains to be seen, but the Chiefs star has already proven he should never be written off.
“We spent all year trying to figure out who they were…Are they this sloppy team? Are they the favorites again in the playoffs?,” Long said. “I actually think they got a lot of that sloppy team in them, but they were able to win despite that because of Patrick Mahomes and because of the coordinators and the head coach.“
