If you dig deep, there probably are a bunch of similarities between Patrick Mahomes, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, and Tom Brady, arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history.
For starters, they're both champions, with Mahomes leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a title last season and Brady racking up six rings with the New England Patriots before joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in March.
Mahomes' eventful offseason -- in which he signed a 10-year contract extension worth up to $503 million and bought an ownership stake in Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals -- has reminded NBC Sports' Peter King of peak Brady for two very important reasons, though.
First, as crazy as it sounds, Mahomes might have left money on the table with the contract he signed in Kansas City. If nothing else, the way Mahomes structured his deal has given the Chiefs some needed financial flexibility, much like Brady consistently afforded the Patriots extra salary-cap wiggle room with how he handled his contract situation in New England.
King wrote:
The contract was an ongoing process, negotiated for 18 months before the July 6 announcement. True: Mahomes almost certainly could have made more money (sick as it sounds) than $477 million over 12 years if he signed a shorter deal now and hit the jackpot twice more between now and 2031. Instead, he made two team-friendly decisions that were mindful of the money Tom Brady bypassed over the years in New England so the Patriots could keep more of their own free-agents and shop for others. Mahomes chose to help the Chiefs through tight cap times in the next two years, taking up $30.1 million total over those two years when the team needed to sign vets like Chris Jones. And he chose a deal that averages $32.6 million in the first seven years with a 2026 cap number of $41.95 million -- likely to be nowhere near the top of the QB class six years from now.
Second, it certainly seems like Mahomes could be a talent magnet for the foreseeable future, with free agents and players on other teams lining up for the opportunity to play alongside the Chiefs QB.
Here's more from King:
One more thing about Mahomes that is Brady-reminiscent: Players want to play on his team. In 2007, Randy Moss told the Patriots in effect: I don’t care what you pay me. Just get me to New England. The Patriots traded a fourth-round pick to pry him from the Raiders, and Moss responded with a league-record 23-receiving-touchdown season, and the Patriots went 16-0. The addition of Kelechi Osemele is not in the same league, but Chiefs needed a guard after Laurent Duvernay-Tardif opted out because of the virus. Osemele, a 2016 all-pro guard with career earnings of $50.9 million, signed for a pittance: one year, $1.19 million. “No way he does that unless he’s playing with a quarterback like Patrick,” said one Chiefs source.
Mahomes, who turns 25 next month, is entering just his third full season as Kansas City's starting quarterback, whereas Brady, now 43, is preparing for his 21st NFL campaign.
They're obviously at very different points in their respective careers, and Mahomes, for as much as he's already accomplished, still has a long way to go before his legacy matches the gold standard set by Brady.
But it sure feels like the two quarterbacks are cut from the same cloth, largely because they're both special talents with a certain drive, a certain wherewithal and a certain inspiring trait that simply can't be taught.
