Tom Brady stepped in as the starting quarterback with the New England Patriots in 2001. He did his job with a well-supported roster. Not a star-studded roster, but one built to support a young quarterback with a solid defense, the building blocks of a running game and quality coaching.
Those situation aren’t always there around the league anymore, but the game’s elite quarterbacks benefited early in the career.
Perfect example? Patrick Mahomes.
Brady detailed that Kliff Kingsbury’s play-calling in college at Texas Tech, Andy Reid’s offense with the Kansas City Chiefs and the mentorship of Alex Smith allowed Mahomes to speed up his escalation as one of the best to play the game with three Super Bowl titles already on his resume.