Many NFL fans and analysts believe that Patrick Mahomes is not only the best quarterback in the league, but also destined for the Hall of Fame, not to mention a lofty space in the GOAT debate.
Former NFL player Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, however, isn’t ready to go that far just yet.
“I think greatness is measured over time,” Gbaja-Biamila said on The DA Show. “It’s measured when you’ve got enough data. I think on the other side we’re seeing this with Tom Brady. For so long, it’s been that Tom Brady was only as good as the coaches around him. Well, I think we’ve seen that he didn’t need to be a part of the system to be good. He’s come to a completely new team in a very new age, at an older age, with different players and he got right back to [the Super Bowl]. That erases everything.”
Indeed, Brady will play in his tenth Super Bowl on Sunday. Mahomes will play in his second, and it likely won’t be his last. Still, that doesn’t mean he’s in the GOAT discussion just yet.
“I know he’s done it back-to-back, it’s been amazing, he has some spectacular plays,” Gbaja-Biamila said. “But I think we all need to pump the brakes when we call him the greatest and [a] future Hall of Famer. What happens if Eric Bieniemy goes to another team? What if Andy Reid decides to retire and now all of a sudden he’s got a different system and has to adapt. Can he adapt? . . . All these things can really change the projection of a player and his ability to produce. So I’m always a big fan of seeing how players adapt with multiple coaches. Tom Brady has done that with different coordinators.”