When debating Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback of all time, Joe Montana usually is the name on the other side of the argument.
Brady's childhood idol won four Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers and earned Super Bowl MVP honors in three of them. He was a two-time NFL MVP and eight-time Pro Bowler.
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Those accolades were enough to keep Montana in the "GOAT" conversation for a while. But with Brady leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl for his unprecedented seventh ring, Montana has finally conceded. The Hall of Famer declared Brady the greatest QB of all time Wednesday on ESPN's "First Take."
"I think Tom has taken his place in the top up there a long time ago," Montana said. "He's had a tremendous career, he's fun to watch. Yeah, there's always -- everybody always contests over that, but I think you look at what Tom's been able to accomplish in his time that he's played, I think it definitely puts him up there at the top of the list.
"There's a lot of great guys before me, even you go back to Otto Graham who won 10 or 11 championships. It's hard to compare them but if you're looking at it, yeah, definitely Tom at that point."
If that doesn't settle the debate, what will?
Brady isn't done yet, either. The former New England Patriots quarterback will return for his age- 44 season, and there's no reason to believe it'll be his last one. For the sake of comparison, Montana retired at 38.