A few days ago, Patrick Mahomes made news when he was included in the coveted Time 100 list of The World’s Most Influential People. Along with the Time Magazine cover was an editorial piece where Mahomes candidly answered some of the most burning questions about him on the internet, including his thoughts on his GOAT status.
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Since winning his third Super Bowl in February, the NFL world has called the Chiefs QB the future GOAT. But in Mahomes’ words, he is “nowhere near” being a GOAT. Mahomes argued that despite having a great run over the last few years, to be a GOAT like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers would require consistency and longevity. He opined that playing at a high level for a couple of years won’t cut it. It will take efforts on a year-to-year basis to be in the GOAT conversation.
“You have to build a consistency of a career. You see that in any sport. I’ve had a great run. I think I’ve done a great job so far. But it’s hard to take away from what Tom did for so long, what Peyton Manning did, or Aaron Rodgers. There are so many guys, they were at such a high level for such a long time. In order to be in that conversation, you have to do that on a year-to-year basis. You can’t take it for granted that you did it the year before.”
He believed that he would only care and talk about his GOAT status once he retires. It’s imperative to have the entire data set before deciding to call someone a GOAT. “That’s something I’ll talk about when I’m done playing,” said Mahomes. “Then people can make those decisions.”
So Patrick is clear that he needs to match someone like Brady’s longevity to be in the GOAT category. But when asked if he can match the longevity of the Bradys and Rodgers of the world, the Chiefs QB had a sentimental take on it.
Will Patrick Mahomes Keep Playing Till His 40s?
Patrick Mahomes and Vin Diesel’s characters in the Fast and Furious series have two similarities – A sexy dad bod and their love for their family. The three-time Super Bowl winner when asked about matching TB12’s longevity first calculated his daughter’s age when he would be 45. Upon realizing that his daughter Sterling would be 19-20 years old, Mahomes laid down his priorities well.
He will only play till his mid-40s if he can manage to attend all of his daughter’s major life events and be there for her while managing his football career. The moment he feels his career is taking his time away from his family, he will quit the sport.
“I’ve looked, if I played until Tom [Brady]’s age, my daughter would be 19, 20 years old,” says Mahomes. “I would love to play that long. At the same time, I want to be there for my daughter. If I can do that, I’ll continue to play. But if I feel like it’s taking away from my family time, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to go.”
The Chiefs Superstar then acknowledged that even if he manages to have a work-life balance, the next challenge is to have a body fit enough to survive till 45. He jokingly stated that Tom has made playing till your mid-40s easy when it’s one of the toughest things to do physically. Hence the three-time Super Bowl revealed that he will get rid of his dad bod in the coming future if he plans to play till 45.
“Tom’s skewed people’s brains on how hard that is to do because of how well he took care of his body. So I’m about to make sure that I get rid of this dad bod if I want to play to 45.”
When compared with Brady in the first six years of their career, Mahomes easily has superior stats and accolades. However as Mahomes acknowledged, reaching Brady’s level is a long way to go as TB12 went on to play for 17 more years after the age of 28. While Mahomes has a headstart right now, he can deservedly make history if he keeps it up for the next 17 years. It will be interesting to see how his career pans out as he might be the closest athlete we might have to Brady in a long time.
