Mahomes vs The Field: Is He Still the NFL’s Gold Standard QB?

Kelvin Washington and Ephraim Salaam break down Patrick Mahomes’ latest contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs—and whether he still deserves to be the NFL’s gold standard at quarterback.

Kelvin argues that Mahomes remains the benchmark, saying even with a couple of “down years,” he’s still the player every franchise would build around. Ephraim pushes back, questioning whether Mahomes’ recent performance has been good enough to justify that label, and suggests quarterbacks like Josh Allen or Matthew Stafford may be setting the tone right now.

The two go back and forth on what defines greatness in today’s NFL: long-term dominance, recent production, or postseason success—and whether Mahomes still checks every box.

👉 Is Mahomes still THE guy… or is the standard starting to shift?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brandan.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Are you up to speed on Patrick Mahomes at all
the deal?

Speaker 3 (00:04):
Yeah, I mean I can give you the details.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Break that down for five Can you give us break
that down for us?

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yeah, I got you.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
So they added two years to his deal through the
twenty thirty three season value of five hundred and four
point seventy five million in total, beginning in twenty twenty seven,
when the new money begins.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
The deal averages sixty four.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Million dollars a year, and I believe yes half a
first NFL deal valued over.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Half a billion dollars.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Then the money is crazy right now in sports and
sports in general, where you can pinpoint at your revenues
up baby, yep, and you can pinpoint a guy ifrom
we're in a crazy space word like you know they're
going to be a billionaire, Like you know Weinby's going
to be a billionaire. It's just a matter of time.
You can you know, Patrick Mahomes is going to be
a billionaire, Like when you can just pimp Kayler Williams
maybe if you know, if the trajectory keeps going, it's

(00:54):
kind of crazy where we are in sports right now
with the money being so big. I said that, to say,
I find with Kevin when we're talking about Patrick Mahomes
and the money, and obviously the Chiefs they didn't make
the postseason for the first time, but they had a
run of ten years, the longest stretch current in the NFL,
and obviously if they failed this past season.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
But to me, when it's all said and done, Drake
may MVP.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Candidate gets to the Super Bowl, Sam Donald wins the
Super Bowl, Matthew Staffords or MVP Kayleb Williams, one of
the best you know far comebacks when to set the
you know, tied for the record with that most comebacks
in the season. All these great things, all these great
guys at the end of the day, for me from
Patrick Mahomes is still the guy when I think of
just games.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
On the line, need to win, Who's gonna win? This guy? Yeah,
just for me and and I just still after the
last two years.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, and that's that's could be the success of the
beginning buys let me.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, and I'm gonna jump in after the last two
years statistically right, no Pro Bowls and the injury, so
who are we going now? Look, I'm not taking anything
away from Patrick Mahomes's greatness, but after what he's shown
us the last two years, uh two years ago healthy

(02:13):
the whole year last year got cut short because of
the injury and coming off the injury. Is he the
standard bear r? Is someone like I don't know, is.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
It Matthews Stafford the only but the reason why what
hesitated on Matthew Stafford singularly, just more so with.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
A like he you know, like I'm not Josh Allen.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
If Josh Allen is right there, but I have to
be fair to the point that he just hasn't been
able to get it done right.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
And that's what we got, and that's what we took quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Quarterbacks and star players in the NBA, those are the
two guys that we judge you on pitchers, your team
can stink skins, you know, and you still be here
to be the best. You can never win a ring
in baseball and still be beat. There's just a different sport.
If you are quarterback right or wrong, it's on you.
Who's everybody tired of right now? Lamar Jackson there at

(03:07):
the Yeah, I get it. Your MVP, you put up
great numbers and.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
All these get over the hump. You gotta get over up.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Josh Allen. Yeah, your MVP's and you're all that gotta
get over the hump. Matthew Stafford, to his credit, finally
got over the hump. Fell short this year and enough
a bad taste in their mouth because I think they
feel that that Seahawk ring was supposed to be theirs.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
That's how I think Matthew st the Rams feel. Well,
that's why they went and did what they did with
going to get Miles. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Absolutely, and McDuffie and they're like, we're about to write
this ship and get right back there. But with that
being said, if you wanted to say, stat Matthew Staffor,
because he's the current reigning MVP, I'm not mad at that.
Joe Burrow is gonna be interesting this year to see
coming back. He's been injuried the last couple of years,
be beat up the team defensively. They've made some moves,
so it'll be interesting to see. I gotta wait see.
And you look at Patrick Mahomes twenty four touchdowns, I

(03:56):
believe it was eleven interceptions. Not a great year on
those numbers. We could have seen the rest of the year.
We would have seen with those total numbers be I
just think at this current stage, for me, he's still
the guy. I could be wrong, but I just still believe,
and obviously I believe the way he's structured is dealver
the last hand for the years, taking a little pay cut,

(04:17):
trying to, you know, work with the team.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
He deserves this money.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
When you're comparing other guys like Dak Prescott making sixty,
he's like, well, I know Patrick deserves that. I got
two time MVP, three times super Bowl champ. Why why
can't he? Eric the enemy is back. We'll see if
that's gonna be a huge help for them to get
them back running this offense better. They got some more
weapons as well coming into so to me, for him,
this is almost a what you were saying, all right,

(04:41):
this is that last little Are you really that guy
still or are you just a guy like a good
he's a good guy. Are you in the mix now
that pack of everybody? Or are you still lead dog?
To me, this season is gonna be that obviously coming
off injury, but you got some.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
Weapons, he's gonna be available at keep saying, oh, he's
gonna be I'll give you a weaker team man. Maybe
if you've means first missus the first week, we don't
know and he doesn't know how he's gonna respond coming
off that, the injury, the a c L. So I'm
going to uh ooof man, I'm going to just watch him, Wimby,

(05:19):
I don't know what you do.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Unbelievable nothings the shot and I'm not sure he landed.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
But I'm gonna hold I'm gonna reserve my opinion to
see what he looks like coming back off.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Worth the five hundred. Well, yeah, you have to do that. Yeah,
you gotta do that.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
I mean, they get they did it ten year, four
fifty before, but when they restructured it over the over
the you know the years.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
But yeah, it's you know, it's not a it's Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
But you could not if you thought what we've said,
if you say, hey, last couple of years, maybe that's
who he is now. I don't want to pay that
guy that.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
No, No, you're gonna live and die with that, like
as long as long as Patrick is there, and he's
gonna be there and vice versa.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
So what what what what else is out there?

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Right?

Speaker 1 (06:04):
What else is out there? In terms of quarterback?

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Patrick Mahomes no matter how these last two down years,
what I'm saying is the money, the extension. I'm like,
and I know they're trying to free up some room
and stuff like that, and I get that, But just
going off the last two years statistically, he hasn't been
in the top five.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
That's fair, that's all I'm saying. That's fair.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well interesting, But somebody who you would say was is
Drake mayn It's like once I once we saw Drake
may face real defenses, You're like, all right, or maybe
I need to pump those brakes. Once we got in
the postseason, they didn't play anybody. Don't forget about the
kid in Denver.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Nicks. Bo Nicks was bo Nicks. We're having a different conversation.
If Bonnicks doesn't break his foot, he might be the
super Bowl. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
So let's let's there's some young talent out there that
none of.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Those got none of those.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
But I'm still for me and you're right what I'm
saying quarterback Phil this year is crowded and we're going
to see early in the season which guys start to
separate themselves from the pack.