Joe Montana Unclear on Whether Tom Brady Should Be Named the GOAT

Montana was asked whether he considers the recently retired Brady the greatest football player of all time.

Tom Brady is commonly referred to as the GOAT of NFL players, but former NFL quarterback Joe Montana may think otherwise.

In a recent interview with The Spun, Montana was asked whether he thinks Brady should be called the GOAT now. Montana, who won four Super Bowl titles in his career, was among those referred to as the GOAT before Brady started in the NFL.

Montana didn‘t exactly answer the key part of the question, though.

“Well, obviously Tom has had a tremendous career. The hard part is trying to compare eras. I mean this is what, Super Bowl 56. The NFL has been around for 100 years,” Montana said. “There was a guy way back, Otto Graham, who won 11 championships before there were Super Bowls. I mean the game was just so different, the ball might not have even been the same shape back then. If you watch him, it’s just had to compare guys.”

But when Montana was asked a similar question last March following Brady‘s seventh Super Bowl win, Montana said he did consider Brady the greatest of all time. 

“I think Tom has taken his place on the top up there a long time ago,” Montana said. "He's had a tremendous career, he's fun to watch. Everybody always contests over that, but I think if you look at what Tom has been able to accomplish in his time that he's played, I think it puts him definitely up there at the top of the list.”

It is unclear what has changed Montana‘s mind on Brady‘s GOAT status in the last 11 months, but regardless, he still considers the now-retired quarterback one of the greatest, if not the greatest.

More NFL Coverage:


Published
Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.