Brett Favre: Mahomes “can set the bar as high as anyone has ever set it”

On Tuesday, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre opened the new season of his weekly SiriusXM show with co-host Bruce Murray.

Not surprisingly, the talk turned to Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“[Mahomes] is legit,” Favre said. “I don’t think he, by any means, is a one-year wonder. The kid played incredibly well in college, learned from Alex Smith, is tutored by one of the best — if not the best — in the league in Andy Reid, and will play in a prolific offense with plenty of weapons.”

Himself a three-time NFL MVP, Favre knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in the NFL — and he said that Mahomes is even further along than he was at the same stage of his development.

“I think at this point — and Patrick is obviously younger than I was when I won my first MVP — I think he’s much more seasoned and more calculated, if that makes sense,” he said. “I had come from really an I-formation option sprint-out passing game when I left college — even though I started four years — and so the passing game, reading flat curls and high-lows and weak and strong dogs and corner blitzes, changing protections and things like that were totally new to me, which is why I improvised as much as I did, I believe. I think Patrick’s a little more seasoned and has been schooled much more, and [he’s] much more advanced at this point in his career.”

“I think the sky’s the limit,” Favre continued. “His numbers were gaudy. I mean, if he does that year in and year out, I mean, we’re looking at something spectacular that may never, ever be done. And that’s no knock against him if he doesn’t because the numbers are so hard to reproduce. But I think he’s the real deal. I think if he stays healthy he can set the bar as high as anyone has ever set it.”

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

That’s high praise. But it’s not the first time Favre has spoken glowingly about Mahomes — and vice-versa. Whenever either one of them is interviewed, they are invariably asked about the other. Just a few weeks ago, Mahomes spoke of Favre in a Forbes interview about the virtual-reality experience in which he is involved.

“Just to see him scrambling around the field and finding ways to make impossible throws, I always wanted to see what did the window look like when he made that throw and how did he make it,” Mahomes said of Favre. ”I feel like that was something that inspired me to get out there and try to make these throws and do all these different arm angles.”

Interviewers can’t resist asking the questions because the two quarterbacks have such similar styles. In fact, one of the reasons Mahomes is a Chief is because their styles are so similar — as head coach Andy Reid revealed when he appeared on Favre and Murray’s show just over a year ago.

“I was at UTEP when Brett and I played against each other when he was a young pup at Southern Miss there,” Reid told the hosts. “So, I saw Brett when he was young and running around and doing these kinds of things and then I turn on this tape and I see this kid at Texas Tech running around and doing these things, and you can’t coach that. That’s just the love of the game, and both you and Patrick play like you’re playing in the backyard. Like you just go, ‘OK. All right, we’re going to line up and the coach is going to give me this, but you know what? If that’s not there, then we’re just going to make it happen.’”

Brett Favre and Bruce Murray can be heard every Tuesday at 11 a.m. Arrowhead Time on SiriusXM radios and on the SiriusXM app.