Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes discusses GOAT status amid pursuit of Tom Brady records

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes acknowledged during a recent conversation with Sean Gregory of Time that he is "nowhere near" being the GOAT as the 28-year-old attempts to match the accomplishments of living legend Tom Brady. 

"You have to build a consistency of a career," Mahomes explained during the interview. "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." 

Shortly after Mahomes became a three-time Super Bowl champion and three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player this past February, he admitted he is chasing a minimum of seven championship rings. Brady, of course, retired a seven-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Super Bowl MVP. 

"That’s something I’ll talk about when I’m done playing," Mahomes said about his place in GOAT debates. "Then people can make those decisions." 

Manning earned five regular-season MVP Awards but won the Super Bowl only twice during his remarkable career. Rodgers is a four-time MVP who possesses one Super Bowl ring. Joe Montana famously went a perfect 4-0 in Super Bowl games. 

As for Mahomes, he'll enter September a two-time regular-season MVP who may already have a spot reserved on any Mount Rushmore of all-time great quarterbacks. With that said, it took Brady 10 years to notch a fourth career Super Bowl victory, and he earned his seventh ring in February 2021 at the age of 43. 

"I’ve looked, if I played until Tom's age, my daughter would be 19, 20 years old," Mahomes told Gregory. "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." 

Mahomes likely can postpone such conversations until some point during the 2030s.