The poll results are both bizarre and ignorant. Yes, hitting is one of the most difficult things in all of sports. But that doesn’t mean it impacts winning the way playing QB at a high level does. Some of the comments in here are just laughable.
As someone who voted for Ohtani a year ago or whatever it was, I think two things are happening with Mahomes here.
1. Long time NFL fans can easily see how favorable the rules are for QBs and their weapons compared to the past. Mahomes joined a team already on the rise and has played his entire career so far under these favorable conditions. He has all the stats going for him, he’s already racked up an excellent amount of SB’s and counting stats, but I think there’s an element of waiting to see how he handles true adversity at play.
2. Watching 43 year old Brady and the Bucs beat the hell out of 26 year old Mahomes and the Chiefs takes a little bit of the shine off Mahomes. And to a lesser extent, as does losing to 41 year old Brady. Some, like myself, are not lamenting how Mahomes would have more accolades if he didn’t run into the GOAT. No, they are looking at SB 55 in particular as a reason why Mahomes will never be considered better than Brady, no matter how much he compiles during a full career where it’s almost impossible for a talent like Mahomes to have his receiving corps touched and throwing picks seem to be constantly be reversed. Brady has barely been gone by this point, he so recently beat the newly minted best in the game as an old man, and I think it’s making it borderline impossible for Mahomes to impress in the same way. For now at least.
There’s something of an artificial dominance whenever I watch Mahomes and the Chiefs. He’s certainly the best in the game today and what I’ve shared isn’t exactly a hill I’m willing to die on, but those are my speculations on why he’s firmly last here, other than the obvious of it being a hockey forum making it unlikely the hockey candidate will ever be last.