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Tom Brady Doubts Any Current QB Can Replicate His Success: 'I Did It for a Long Time'

Adam Wells

One of the reasons Tom Brady is generally regarded as the best player in NFL history is because the level of success he was able to sustain over the course of 23 years in the league.

On the latest episode of the Let's Go podcast (starts at 23:30 mark), Brady expressed his doubt that any current quarterback will be able to match what he did for as long as he did it in the NFL.

"People have to do it for a long time. I did it for a long time. when you look at my career, I was able to do it every year for basically every single game. ...Every game wasn't perfect, but every game was pretty good. ... If someone does make it as long as i made it with the degree of success, then I give them a lot of respect. It would be an unbelievable accomplishment for them to do that."

Brady holds no fewer than 17 league records between the regular season and playoffs. He's the all-time leader in wins (251), completions (7,753), attempts (12,050), passing yards (89,214), passing touchdowns (649), Super Bowl appearances (10), Super Bowl wins (seven) and Super Bowl MVP awards (five).

The only other quarterback with at least 80,000 passing yards and 550 passing touchdowns was Drew Brees (80,358 yards, 571 touchdowns). Eight of the 21 non-Brady players who have appeared in at least five Super Bowls were his teammates with the New England Patriots.

Patrick Mahomes looks like the best possible challenger to at least some of Brady's milestones. The Kansas City Chiefs star has reached the AFC Championship Game every year of his career as a starter, including two Super Bowl wins in three appearances.

Through his first 86 starts, Mahomes has over 6,000 more passing yards (25,974 to 19,782) and 70 more passing touchdowns (207 to 137) than Brady did in his first 86 starts.

At just 28 years old, Mahomes could potentially shatter most, if not all, of Brady's records by the time his career is over. But it's impossible to predict that will happen because of how fickle sports can be.

Brady didn't fully become the player we think about now until the 2007 season when he got Randy Moss and four years later in 2011 when the passing boom fully took over the NFL.

   

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