Despite a lopsided loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX, Patrick Mahomes still finds himself firmly fixed in the G.O.A.T. conversation. The 29-year-old veteran has the most wins of any signal caller in NFL history through the first eight seasons of a career, and has already managed to surpass several of the greats by winning three Super Bowls.
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However, some aren’t willing to rank him over the likes of Aaron Rodgers just yet, and that includes Ben Roethlisberger. When asked to choose between a prime Rodgers and a current Mahomes, the Pittsburgh legend asserted that a prime Rodgers was simply in a class of his own.
“I would take Aaron in his prime over Patrick now. Aaron Rodgers, in his prime, was one of the top few to ever do it… Patrick Mahomes is just entering out of his prime, I think. He’ll go down as another arguable G.O.A.T… I think that Aaron in his prime [is better.],” Big Ben explained.
While he did admit that a “prime-for-prime” style conversation would force him to think a lot harder about the topic, the two-time Super Bowl champion seemed content with picking the newfound Steelers’ alumni. When it came time to acknowledge that Rodgers is on track to surpass him in total career passing yards, Roethlisberger didn’t seem to be too bothered by it.
“Eh,” he shrugged. “Records are meant to be broken.”
And that will certainly be the case for as long as Mahomes is around. In addition to collecting wins at an unprecedented rate, Mahomes also has the most passing touchdowns of any quarterback through the first eight seasons of a career.
As far as Rodgers is concerned, his first and only Lombardi trophy didn’t arrive until his third season as a starter. Likewise, it took seven seasons as a starter before he was able to claim his first regular-season MVP award.
In that same amount of time, Mahomes had already managed to compile three regular-season MVP awards and three Super Bowl MVP awards. To further emphasize just how historic Mahomes’ current pace is, understand that Rodgers has competed in 21 playoff games throughout the course of his soon-to-be 21-year career.
Mahomes has played in the exact same number of playoff games in seven seasons. Simply put, there are no two ways about it, should the pride and joy of Kansas City manage to maintain his current rate of play, the conversations surrounding his career will be exclusive to him and Tom Brady.
Nevertheless, Mahomes’ reputation faces a bit of a crossroads heading into the 2025 season. The phenom was able to rebound from his loss to Brady at Super Bowl LV, but he’s now tasked with doing it again.
Andy Reid and Travis Kelce are a year older and that much closer to retirement. Should Mahomes hope to assert himself as the legend that he aims to be, then he’ll have to make the most of what time they have left, and that begins with their Week 1 matchup in Los Angeles.
