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Patrick Mahomes is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL right now.
In fact, Pro Football Focus (PFF) literally just ranked all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks and they have the Kansas City Chiefs face of the franchise at number one.
“Mahomes is the standard by which all NFL quarterbacks are now measured,” PFF’s Sam Monson wrote. “With Manning and Brady now names of the past, Mahomes is the new benchmark pushing the boundaries of what we have seen previously. Since coming into the league, he has 191 big-time throws including the postseason, the most in the NFL. He has also passed for 8.1 yards per attempt, a figure only quarterbacks playing for Kyle Shanahan have surpassed over the same span.”
So he is a pretty good guy to ask who he thinks are the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
Which is exactly what Ben Felderstein of Complex did this week.
“Yeah, I mean, you got to say Tom [Brady]’s 1, but if you talk about the legends of the game, Tom, Peyton Manning, obviously Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana, and then it gets down to Dan Marino or John Elway to round off your top five,” Mahomes said.
“But I mean there’s some great quarterbacks that played this game, man, I’m trying to learn from them because even though the game has progressed, there’s still stuff in the past that helps you become a better quarterback.”
Pretty solid list, though saying “obviously Aaron Rodgers” seems like a reach. He’s a future Hall of Famer for sure, but it’s not “obvious” that he is one of the five greatest to ever do it.
Patrick Mahomes himself listed several other great quarterbacks at another point of the interview when he was asked if the game today has the most talent ever at the quarterback position.
“I would say maybe top to bottom. You look back and you got like Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, freaking Troy Aikman, [John] Elway,” he replied. “There’s been some Hall of Famers that have all played in the same era, but I think top to bottom, it’s hard to find a spot on any team, but the quarterback’s not a guy that you can see win playoff games. And I think that’s made it so special. I think that comes with development, coaching, and evolution of the quarterback position.
“So I think it’s definitely a golden era for the quarterback position. Maybe we don’t have those Hall of Fame guys yet at the top, but one through 32, I mean there’s quarterbacks that don’t even get a chance to start that are great players.”
As for Patrick Mahomes’ ranking of the top quarterbacks currently playing today, he said, “I’m not going to put them in order, but I mean there’s… It’s so hard, man. There’s like 10 top five quarterbacks. But I mean you got to look at the track record the last few years.
“I mean you got me, Joe [Burrow], Josh [Allen], you got Lamar [Jackson], you got Jalen Hurts, who’s coming up strong after this last season, I’m sure he’ll be even better this next. You got Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert… I mean there’s so many quarterbacks, I don’t want to just name five.”
He even threw Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson a bone before remembering Aaron Rodgers was still in the league, so he wasn’t lying when he said he thinks there are “10 top five quarterbacks.”