Brett Favre's former teammate 'beginning to buy into the hype' about Patrick Mahomes

A week ago, former Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali was talking up quarterback Patrick Mahomes on the NFL Network and made the comparison to Packers legend Brett Favre.

Making that parallel initially raised the eyebrow of NFL Network writer Bucky Brooks. In 32 career NFL games, Brooks played for five teams, including the Chiefs and the Packers. In Green Bay, one of his teammates was Favre.

Over the weekend, Brooks had an article on NFL.com about the Mahomes-Favre comparison.

"To be fair, I'm a little biased when it comes to Favre, based on my experience playing with him in Green Bay during the remarkable stretch when he won three straight MVP awards," Brooks wrote. "The 11-time Pro Bowler posted a 112:42 touchdown-to-interception ratio while guiding the Packers to a 37-11 mark during that span. Although Favre never posted a passer rating above 100.0 during this time and only registered a completion percentage north of 60 once, he was a magical playmaker with an A+ game and a flair for the dramatic.

"With that in mind, I think it's hard to put those kinds of expectations on a young gunslinger with only one career start under his belt."

Brooks was worried that Mahomes' free-wheeling style would lead to interceptions. However, Brooks said Hali's glowing review of Mahomes had him "beginning to buy into the hype that's swelling around the second-year quarterback."

Another factor in Brooks' change? Chiefs coach Andy Reid and the receiving corps.

"But Reid is the perfect coach for Mahomes — and he has assembled a supporting cast around his second-year QB that should help him thrive as a starter," Brooks wrote. "The Chiefs' receiving corps features a bevy of playmakers with the kind of speed and explosiveness to take advantage of No. 15's big arm in a vertical passing game. Not to mention, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Travis Kelce excel as catch-and-run specialists with the kind of running skills that can make Kansas City's screen game downright scary. With Reid adept at teaching quarterbacks to play the game the right way (see: Favre, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick and Alex Smith, among others), it is quite possible that Mahomes grows into the spectacular playmaker that many envisioned when he entered the league a season ago."

You can read more of what Brooks wrote here.

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 12:12 PM.