Should Patrick Mahomes be considered the best quarterback in the NFL?

Patrick Mahomes was the best quarterback in the NFL in 2018 but is it too soon to crown him the best quarterback in all of football?

It’s a strange time to be alive for most Kansas City Chiefs fans. For the first time in most of our lives the most talked about, host hyped, most exciting, most popular player in the entire NFL is the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Patrick Mahomes is not only the reigning MVP, he’s also the NFL’s new poster boy. He’s the talk of offseason conversation nationally. He’s on the cover of Madden. He’s signing new endorsement deals left and right. If there was a nationwide poll of who is the most exciting young player in the NFL it would go to Mahomes by a landslide. His first year as a starter was truly that historic and there is every reason to believe he will be an elite player for years to come.

The question that has come up in recent weeks is if that is enough to already crown him the best quarterback in the NFL? Good Morning Football recently ran a tournament-style vote on who is the best quarterback in 2019. The winner was…

Since I am posing this on a Kansas City Chiefs site, I’m guessing that most of you reading this will be in total agreement with those results. However, before we just declare the question answered, let me ask you this. Do you consider Matt Nagy to be the best coach in the NFL?

My guess is no.

I think most of us would give that title to Bill Belichick. However, Matt Nagy was voted NFL Coach of the Year last season. That means he was deemed the best coach in the NFL in 2018. He’s a young coach who should only get better. If we’re ready to claim that Patrick Mahomes is officially the best quarterback in all the NFL because he had the best season of any quarterback last year, why wouldn’t we feel the same way about Matt Nagy?

I won’t speak for everyone, but for me it’s because Bill Belichick has a more proven track record over such a long period of time. Yes, Nagy was incredible last year for the Bears and I believe he’ll have a very good career, but if you asked me which coach I trust more going into 2019, the answer for me is Belichick. His consistency is off the charts and you simply can’t argue with six Super Bowl wins including another one last year.

So why doesn’t that same logic apply to Tom Brady at quarterback?

Let me ask another question.

If it was a Raiders quarterback that had set the world on fire last season and Raiders fans were shouting from mountaintops that he had already passed Brady as the best quarterback in football after one season as a starter, what would our reaction be? Would we tip our collective cap to them and concede that they had the best quarterback in all of football? Would we roll our eyes at them for making such claims after just one season?

How about if Tom Brady had beaten the Raiders quarterback in both head to head match ups last season, including the playoffs on his way to winning his sixth Super Bowl? Or would we say, “Well, that had more to do with the defenses than the quarterback play”? Or would we use it as ammunition to prove our point about the Raiders quarterback needing to go out and prove it this season before we would even consider calling him better than Brady?

I can hear some of you now. “The best quarterback in the NFL isn’t about who has the best career résumé. Its about who is playing the best right now. Since Mahomes had the best overall season last year, that makes him the best.” If that’s your response, then I’ll ask again if you believe Matt Nagy is the best coach in the NFL?

Listen, I’m not trying to discredit how great Patrick Mahomes is. He is literally the most exciting Chiefs player in my lifetime. If the NFL blew up every roster and re-drafted the entire league, I feel 100% confident that all 32 teams would have Mahomes at the top of their draft board. I just can’t see a strong argument for any other player to go first overall in that scenario.

In that scenario, Mahomes’ age and upside definitely put him over the top, and I’m sure there are a fair number of you reading this that are going to use Brady’s age as justification for Mahomes being ahead of him.

However, if you did another poll and asked NFL GMs, coaches, and players if they had to bet every dollar that they have on one football game next month but they can pick who their quarterback is for that one game, I think Tom Brady might still win that vote. Patrick Mahomes would definitely be up there, but I’m certainly not as confident in where he’d finish in that poll as I am in the NFL re-draft situation. I also think you’d see guys like Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers get a few votes as well.

The question I’ll leave my fellow Chiefs fans with is this: When Chiefs Kingdom declares Patrick Mahomes the best quarterback in the NFL after one season, are we letting our “homer” emotions get the best of us? Or was he just so good last year that it warrants it?

Isn’t there at least a part of you that feels like if you’re going to wear the crown, you need to dethrone the current king? I mean, if Mahomes puts up similar numbers (or better) this season, beats Brady head to head and leads the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, it will be virtually impossible for anyone to dispute Mahomes’ claim to the throne.

Here’s hoping that’s exactly what happens this coming season.