Patrick Mahomes already has more Super Bowl rings than Peyton Manning. He’s chasing the legacy of Tom Brady, the only quarterback to pilot his team to victory over Mahomes’s Kansas City Chiefs multiple times in the playoffs. Mahomes isn’t jostling to be unanimously considered the best signal-caller currently playing — he earned that distinction years ago. From a long-term legacy perspective, Mahomes is destined to be compared against the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
That’s what makes Albert Breer’s analysis of Mahomes on SI.com so interesting following KC’s win over the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. In light of the fact that the injury-riddled Chiefs offense survived on the turn-back-the-clocks performances from running back Kareem Hunt and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, Breer wrote about what Mahomes has in common with two of the greatest quarterbacks to ever grace the gridiron.
“Mahomes is what Tom Brady and Peyton Manning once were as dominant NFL quarterbacks,” Breer wrote. “He doesn’t create margin for error. He is the Chiefs’ margin for error, and the marks of it were all over a breezy 26–13 win Monday over a good Saints team. The same way that Brady could have Deion Branch return 90 balls at 32 years old—after Seattle deemed him done—or Manning could get a 36-catch season from Blair White (look it up), Mahomes, too, can turn football water into wine.
“And with the way quarterback contracts work now, this is really the ideal,” Breer continued. “It’s easy to cheat the system when your guy is on a rookie deal. The path to building a championship team is narrower after he gets paid. So to justify it, a quarterback has to prove he can keep doing more even when there’s less around him. Mahomes personified that Monday night.”
Adding to the narrative, think back to February, when the Chiefs won their second consecutive Super Bowl by beating the San Francisco 49ers. Patrick Mahomes threw for 333 yards while also leading the team with 66 yards rushing. His two touchdowns went to Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Mecole Hardman. The year prior, he threw touchdowns to Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore (in addition to one to Travis Kelce). Acknowledging Kelce as an elite constant, Mahomes has largely had to make lemonade (or chicken salad) out of his post-Tyreek Hill wide receiving options. With Rice and Brown sidelined now, Mahomes is doing it again.
Additionally, later in his commentary about KC, Breer provided a nugget of intel regarding how the team is viewing the wide receiver trade market, potentially looking to give Mahomes a bit more to work with in 2024.
“For what it’s worth, the Chiefs wanted to get a good look at what Smith-Schuster and Xavier Worthy could do as top options in the offense before deciding on how to approach the Nov. 5 trade deadline,” Breer added parenthetically. “Seeing how those guys do in San Francisco on Oct. 20 will give the front office a nice opportunity to evaluate.”