Patrick Mahomes Could Win More Super Bowls Than Tom Brady, According to a Former Chiefs Player
When it comes to modern NFL history, it’s impossible to ignore Tom Brady. While the former New England Patriots quarterback might not be everyone’s favorite player, you can’t argue with his resume; if nothing else, six Super Bowl rings speak for themselves. Kansas City Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes, however, may have something to say about that.
Although Mahomes only has one Super Bowl ring in his young football career, one former Kansas City Chief sees bright things in his future. In fact, he predicted that the KC quarterback could ultimately win more championships than the great Tom Brady.
Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes are at the opposite end of impressive careers
While there are obviously some outliers, most sports careers tend to follow a similar trajectory. It seems like Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes are simply on opposite ends of the path.
For all of Brady’s success, he didn’t enter the NFL as a highly-touted prospect; Drew Bledsoe didn’t believe the young quarterback would become anything more than a backup. Fate, however, had other plans. After Bledsoe suffered an injury, Brady stepped into the starting role. He and the Patriots never looked back and claimed six Super Bowl titles before splitting up this spring.
While Mahomes is at the opposite end of the aging curve, he’s already showing plenty of promise. Unlike Brady, he arrived in the NFL as a name-brand talent and, if anything, has taken his game to another level. After spending a season backing up Alex Smith, Mahomes burst onto the scene with a 5,000 yard, 50-touchdown MVP season; he’s since followed that up with a Super Bowl victory in February 2020.
‘He can be the next Brady’
When the Kansas City Chiefs inked Patrick Mahomes to a massive contract extension, they handed the quarterback the keys to the franchise. According to one former Chief, that decision could create a new NFL dynasty.
In a conversation with Zach Gelb, Derrick Johnson, who spent most of his career in Kansas City, had nothing but praise for Mahomes and the Chiefs organization. “It’s definitely a dynasty,” the former linebacker said. “They have everything in the making, especially the young quarterback. You’ve got the head coach, who is awesome, my best coach I’ve had. I believe it is going to be a dynasty with Kansas City.”
In that vein, Gelb asked Johnson how many Super Bowl titles he thought Patrick Mahomes could win over the course of his extension. Unsurprisingly, he had plenty of faith in the young quarterback.
“I want to say he could get up to three or four [championships], but I’m just shooting at the stars,” Johnson continued. “His potential, he could get five or six. He can be the next Brady. He really can.”
Even with Patrick Mahomes’ potential, that six Super Bowl wins is a bit optimistic
As anyone who has watched Patrick Mahomes can confirm, the young quarterback is incredibly talented. Winning six more Super Bowl titles and surpassing Tom Brady’s total, however, may be a bridge too far even for him.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Mahomes will spend the next 12 seasons in Kansas City. For him to even appear in six Super Bowls, the Chiefs will need to be the best team in the AFC for 50% of those years; that doesn’t even take winning the big game into account. Although the quarterback and his teammates are talented, that doesn’t leave much margin for error. Injuries, other stars, like Lamar Jackson, and simple bad luck could all prevent Mahomes from surpassing Tom Brady’s total number of titles.
That reality, however, doesn’t change the core of Derrick Johnson’s claims, though. Patrick Mahomes is a uniquely talented quarterback, and the Kansas City Chiefs seem to have all the pieces in place for continued success. Surpassing Tom Brady’s six Super Bowl titles, however, requires everything to fall perfectly into place. No matter how good your quarterback is, that’s simply not likely.
Then again, if any quarterback can work some magic, it’s Patrick Mahomes.
