Who is the greatest athlete of the 21st Century? ESPN attempted to answer this question in a story published on Thursday morning titled “Ranking the Top 100 Professional Athletes since 2000.”
So, who is it? Tom Brady? Lionel Messi? Serena Williams? LeBron James?
Nope. The answer, according to the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” is Michael Phelps. When you take into account that he’s piled up 28 Olympic medals – 23 of which were Gold Medals – and won eight Gold Medals at the Beijing Games in 2008, it’s hard to argue.
Tom Brady checks in at No. 5 on the list with his seven Super Bowl championships, but the next NFL player to make the cut checks in at No. 18, and that is none other the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
In his first seven NFL seasons, Mahomes has put together one of the most impressive careers that professional football has ever seen.
He’s a three-time Super Bowl winner – and the MVP selection in each of those games – a two-time NFL MVP, two-time All-Pro First Team Selection, and a six-time NFL Pro Bowl selection. In short, he’s had the hottest start to a career that any quarterback has enjoyed in history.
Mahomes’ 2018 season will go down as one of the greatest single-season accomplishments of all-time, and is a big reason for his inclusion so high on this list.
“Mahomes not only had one of the NFL’s best passing seasons ever in 2018, but he did it in his first year as a starter,” ESPN’s Adam Teicher writes. “That season he became only the second quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns, joining the Broncos’ Peyton Manning, who did it in 2013. Mahomes put himself on a fairly easy pace in both statistical categories with a scorching start. He had 13 touchdown passes in the first three games and threw for more than 300 yards in eight of the first nine. He had two six-TD games that season and hasn’t had one since.”
The Texas Tech alum has been the face of the NFL since he took over as the full time starter in ’18 and hasn’t looked back since.
Mahomes and the Chiefs are currently the back-to-back Super Bowl Champions, becoming the first team in 20 years to do so after a 25-22 (OT) victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
