A former All-Pro cornerback discusses the contentious views of Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.
Asante Samuel, a former NFL cornerback who played with quarterback Tom Brady on the New England Patriots, won two Super Bowl rings. He discussed his doubts that Brady will ever be surpassed as the NFL’s all-time great quarterback by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in a recent episode of the “Say What Needs to Be Said” podcast.
“My opinion is it is damn near impossible for Patrick Mahomes to dethrone Tom Brady as the number one G.O.A.T.,” Samuel said, as shared by James Brizuela of Fan Nation’s Bleav website. “It is damn near impossible for Patrick Mahomes to dethrone Tom Brady’s number one G.O.A.T. status. Right? If you look at the body of work, not the accolades, because we all know accolades come from popularity and perception and perception driven.”
As a seven-time Super Bowl champion and the first player to ever win Super Bowl Most Valuable Player five times, Brady announced his retirement in February 2023, seemingly for good.
In the meantime, Mahomes’ 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers on February 11 made him a three-time Super Bowl champion and MVP.
Perhaps most importantly as it pertains to Mahomes chasing Brady, Kansas City’s QB1 turns 29 years old this September and may just now be entering his prime as an all-around player.
While continuing his point, Samuel mentioned how Brady guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a win over Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV back in February 2021.
“How are you going to beat that? Eight Super Bowl victories aren’t enough for Patrick Mahomes to say he dethroned Tom Brady,” Samuel added. “I say he needs at least 10 to dethrone Tom Brady.”
Fascinatingly, Mahomes admitted immediately after the Patriots defeat the Niners in Super Bowl LVIII that “it’s always going to be tough” for him to tie or beat Brady in discussions about the greatest player of all time because Mahomes was defeated by TB12 in the grandest stage of the game.
Although Mahomes subsequently acknowledged that his objective “is always seven [rings],” it seems that certain people in the NFL community believe the first-round selection from 2017 would never be able to surpass Brady as the greatest player of all time without wearing jewelry on every finger and both thumbs.