Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is widely regarded as the best quarterback in the NFL today, but Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce sees the bigger picture for Mahomes.

Kelce thinks that Mahomes could ultimately challenge Tom Brady’s legacy.

“Obviously, I got all the respect for Tom Brady,” Kelce said during an appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast this week. “He’s the GOAT and the best to ever do it, but I think the rate Pat is at, how he’s doing it, I think it’s a little more all on Pat than Brady.”

It should be specified that Kelce was speaking purely from a numbers perspective, and from that angle, he certainly has a point.

Mahomes is ahead of Brady in passing yards and passing touchdowns in his first five years of starting, and he also has more MVP awards and Pro Bowl appearances during that span.

However, there is one area in which it will be very difficult to catch Brady: Super Bowls.

Kelce seems to understand that.

“So I think [Mahomes] will catch [Brady] in all the accolades,” Travis Kelce said. “But I think the biggest thing is always going to be those Super Bowls. That’s a lot of Super Bowls.”

Mahomes has already won a pair of Super Bowl titles himself, but Brady collected seven over his 23-year NFL tenure. It’s not like Brady won all of those championships in a short span of time, either. He spread out his titles over multiple decades, winning his first ring during the 2001-02 campaign and capturing his last championship in February 2021—where he beat Mahomes and the Chiefs.

While Patrick Mahomes may certainly break all of the passing records, it’s going to take a very long and consistently successful playing career in order for him to truly surpass Brady’s legacy as a whole.

Kansas City is 6-1 this season and will take on the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

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