On a day where the world recognizes the end to Tom Brady‘s illustrious career, longtime national sports radio host Mike Francesa, 68, explains that Brady isn’t the greatest quarterback ever.
Brady, 45, announced his retirement from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NFL on Wednesday, February 1 after a 23-year career. He won seven Super Bowls, three MVPs, and captured numerous individual records, but Francesa doesn’t see that all adding up to Brady being the greatest.
“He’s not the best regular season quarterback I’ve ever seen. Peyton Manning was,” Francesa said on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday. “He’s not the best Super Bowl quarterback who ever lived. Joe Montana is.”
“Just take the Super Bowl performances. Nobody has ever competed on the level Joe Montana did. Not even close,” Francesa added.
“[Tom Brady’s] not the best regular season quarterback I’ve ever seen. Peyton Manning was. He’s not the best Super Bowl quarterback who ever lived, Joe Montana is. What he is though, is the guy who played the longest and he won the most games.”
Brady went 7-3 in Super Bowl appearances with 3,039 yards for 21 touchdowns versus six interceptions. Montana went 4-0 in the Super Bowl with 1,142 yards for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Montana also holds the edge in quarterback rating with 127.8 versus Brady’s 97.7 rating.
As for the regular season, Manning averaged more yards, 7.7, per attempt than Brady, 7.4, but Brady’s dwarf Manning’s numbers otherwise. Brady notably only had a slightly better quarterback rating, 97.2, than Manning’s 96.5 mark.
“I watch every game in the regular season. The best down-to-down, Sunday-to-Sunday quarterback I’ve ever seen in the regular season is Peyton Manning,” Francesa said.
“What he is though is the guy who played the longest, and he won the most games. He won the most Super Bowls,” Francesa said of Brady. “So he will be remembered because nobody is going to play 23 years, and nobody is probably ever going to have a chance to win that many Super Bowls. It’s almost impossible to do.”
Brady ‘Made Himself Great’
Things didn’t start easy for Brady as an unheralded recruit at Michigan in the late 1990s followed by a sixth-round draft pick with the New England Patriots in 2000.
“Tom Brady made himself great. He wasn’t great,” Francesa said. “He wasn’t great in college. He lost his job, which is what fueled him his whole life. He is the most competitive person anybody has ever met, and he worked harder than anybody ever to be this good. He made himself this good.”
“He didn’t start out that way,” Francesa added. “He was drafted late. He had a terrible body. It took him time to do it.”
April 16, 2000: The Patriots select @TomBrady in the 6th Round (199th overall pick) of the NFL Draft.
Brady lost the starting job at Michigan in 1997 but bounced back to have a solid college career. His opportunity in the NFL came in 2001 when Patriots starter Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury. Brady took over as the starter and went on to build a legacy with six Super Bowl wins in New England. He concluded his career in Tampa where he led the Bucs to a Super Bowl in 2020.
Amid the success, Brady became known for his work ethic and meticulous care of his body, which allowed him to become the oldest NFL starting quarterback ever. Brady won more games than any quarterback, and he won more Super Bowls than any NFL franchise at the moment.
“He was in the right place with the right coach [Bill Belichick], and he was that competitive,” Francesa said.
Francesa Concedes Brady is the Greatest
After ESPN analyst Smith A. Smith acknowledged Francesa’s points, Francesa conceded. Francesa acknowledged that Brady is the greatest quarterback overall when Smith pressed for an answer, but Francesa stood by preferring Montana over Brady to start a Super Bowl.
“Because longevity matters and that means records and winning all of those Super Bowls matters because that’s how we keep score,” Francesa told Smith. When you add it all up … nobody is going to surpass that.”
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Tom Brady is ‘Not the Best’, Longtime Analyst Says