I think Brady is a JAG and that if you put Bradford, or Rivers, or Eli on those Patriots teams, they enter the GOAT conversation.
The one thing that IMO is the biggest boost that Brady got from those 6 seasons of undetected cheating is career longevity and osmosis of reading defenses. It’s a dang hard thing to read defenses when you don’t know what’s coming at you. That ignorance of where blitzes are coming from, the true coverage call and what the stunts are has ruined the careers of many above capable quarterbacks of yore. Brady’s early career avoided those everpresent pitfalls that’s part of the on the job learning experience.
But Brady knew all that. He didn’t have to ascend a super high learning curve while getting mauled in the backfield or mauled by local sportswriters critiquing his play and comparing his play to another QB on a team with a cheating head coach who spoon fed his QB what defenses he’d be facing.
If there’s one thing Brady isn’t is Peyton Manning who was probably the greatest at the knowledge level of any quarterback who acquired his knowledge by playing the game and not getting the answers to football’s questions on a cheat cheat.
Those 6 years of osmosis gave Brady the
time to learn since he wasn’t under the normal duress of the position, a position that is one of the most challenging in any sport.
But since no one knew he was being spoon fed at the time, a narrative of “genius”, “GOAT” etc was being spun. And we all know the narrative is still there today.
We Not Me
