Mahomes, going into SBLVIII today, what HOF QBs has he already 'passed'??

[Brian wolf]

The luckiest QB ever was Gary Cuozzo, who went from backing up John Unitas to having three separate teams hand him their starting jobs based on absolutely, no merit. Back-up QBs to this day benefit just by learning their playbooks. Look at Matt Flynn, who had a 6 TD game against the Lions for GB(Packers record?) and parlayed it into fat contracts with Seattle, then the Raiders, without even starting!

[74_75_78_79_]

Maybe not the case with some at the time, but going into that infamous (or not-infamous, depending on your view) Patriots/Seahawks Super Bowl, I (and sure-enough many others) did not see Tom Brady as anywhere near 'GOAT'! Maybe Top-Ten but Joe Cool so far away! Despite many, many regular season wins along with two AFC Championships since, the Patriots actually were on the verge of, possibly, completing their tenth-straight season without a Lombardi. And having to face the defending-Champ, Legion of Boom Seahawks albeit, maybe, a slight step off from the year before, was certainly no guarantee of snapping things!

He, at the time, was being compared to Peyton as his HC was being compared to Noll and also Walsh.

And then...they WIN! And the REST OF the Journey began. The Journey that would lead Tom to GOAT! Or, at least, arguable-GOAT - he or Joe - as also the case with Hoodie-or-Vince-or-Paul by way to a coup'la more Titles with an extra SB-berth to boot! And then yet ANOTHER for Tom elsewhere in 2020!!


Well...winning SBLVIII could be seen as the 'starting point' at the foot of 'GOAT Mountain' to get Patrick all the way up there!

But, in this case, there would have to be a bit more to climb.

He's doing fine and impressive thus far for what little time. Maybe his '18-thru-'23 beats Tom's '01-thru-'06. But MUCH to go for the entire enchilada! We'll just have to simply see in the very end! Even Tiger was unable to 'catch' Nicholas! But we WILL see!

[Brian wolf]

That SB against NE was the worst game I ever saw the Legion Of Boom play ... I would have bet my savings that Brady wouldnt have thrown 4 TDs in that game before-hand.

Ever since that game, it seems young, drafted QBs have a tough time winning it all. Only Wilson, Brady and Mahomes from their drafted teams have done it. I think another traded or free agent QB could possibly unseat Mahomes and the Chiefs next year. If it could be Rodgers, the Jets will have to bring in Davante Adams or Mike Evans ... do they have the cap space?

[SeahawkFever]

Pre-2004 Ty Law rule changes, Mahomes would have been just another QB.

He's not legendary, he's merely the best of a watered down era.

If you put Patrick Mahomes in an earlier era of the rules, he certainly wouldn't put up the same raw counting stats he'll end up putting up, and his career would probably be shorter than it'll end up being (the same could probably be said for pretty much any quarterback nowadays you could name).

But at the same time, that would also imply that Mahomes would grow up in a different generation, would be presumably mentored by a different coach than Andy Reid, and would grow up watching different quarterbacks and teams than he did in reality and perhaps develop different tendencies and have a different style of play suited to whatever era he'd be in. How he'd rank in those circumstances, we'll never know.

If you want to argue Patrick Mahomes isn't one of the handful of best quarterbacks, or is overrated in some ways then I could see the arguments. But if we are talking about him in a different era, I think there's also something to be said about the circumstances he'd theoretically find himself in that we're probably speculating on.

And even if this era is weak in your opinion (and due to rule changes over the years I'd totally agree that defenses aren't as physical on the quarterback as they were in say 1969-1977), I'd argue that there is something to be said about potentially going down as the best quarterback in an era.

At least that's what I think. What do you think?

[Citizen]

The Brady comparisons are apt. Both faced relatively meager expectations coming into the league, both found themselves matched with the absolute perfect coach, both have taken full advantage of QB-friendly rules, both showed a knack for ending up smelling like a rose in big games where they didn't necessarily play well.

If you're a "bottom-line" type, Mahomes is already past Favre, Brees, etc., not to mention numerous QBs from the old days. But I do see where those who don't see all that much "there" there are coming from, too. I have to see more before I put him ahead of P. Manning and others, even though Mahomes has more rings. I wouldn't curse him with the "game manager" tag, but he strikes me more as the risk-averse type who fits perfectly in his team's system and isn't forced to regularly put the team on his back.

[Ness]

Probably most as far as legacy is concerned considering how dominant/successful he's been, at such a young age.

Eras are always tricky, but I think the best we can do is say how dominant they are/were among their peers in the era they're playing. To me, I honestly think he's a top 3 QB I've ever seen play in that regard. When taking into account dominance, and winning. Brady, Montana, and Mahomes. At least in the Super Bowl era.

[Bryan]

To answer the specific question, if Mahomes retired today, I'd rank him above the following of the current 23 modern era HOF QBs:

Aikman
Blanda
Bradshaw
Dawson
Fouts
Griese
Jurgensen
Kelly
Layne
Moon
Namath
Starr
Staubach
Tarkenton
Tittle
Van Brocklin
Waterfield
Young

[JameisBrownston]

To answer the specific question, if Mahomes retired today, I'd rank him above the following of the current 23 modern era HOF QBs:

Aikman
Blanda
Bradshaw
Dawson
Fouts
Griese
Jurgensen
Kelly
Layne
Moon
Namath
Starr
Staubach
Tarkenton
Tittle
Van Brocklin
Waterfield
Young

Did you forget that Stabler and Kurt Warner got inducted? No way they're ahead of Mahomes, or anywhere close to the others you omitted.

Are Layne, YA, NVB, and Waterfield "modern era"?

[Bryan]

To answer the specific question, if Mahomes retired today, I'd rank him above the following of the current 23 modern era HOF QBs:

Aikman
Blanda
Bradshaw
Dawson
Fouts
Griese
Jurgensen
Kelly
Layne
Moon
Namath
Starr
Staubach
Tarkenton
Tittle
Van Brocklin
Waterfield
Young

Did you forget that Stabler and Kurt Warner got inducted? No way they're ahead of Mahomes, or anywhere close to the others you omitted.

Are Layne, YA, NVB, and Waterfield "modern era"?

I must have been looking at an old list. I would not put Stabler or Warner above Mahomes.

But for the "modern era", I would put all those guys in it, because they weren't single-wing TBs. JMO