Opinion: NFL will be fine when Tom Brady leaves, as great young QBs are ready to take center stage
Tom Brady is retiring. He's gone. He's the best ever. We all know this. Good talk.
The most important thing now about Brady isn't that he's leaving. It's that we're entering another NFL universe, an uncharted one, without Brady. Normally, when such a gigantic star collapses, it sucks in everything around him, like a dying sun obliterating a solar system. In the past when star quarterbacks retired, they left a huge vacuum.
Yet Brady's absence is different. For one of the few times in NFL history, as a star quarterback steps down, a number of excellent young pass-throwers are stepping in.
As Brady heads off into the sunset, massive quarterback talent is coming in from the horizon. They are smart, cocky, talented, with big arms and smoked cigars, smiling with confidence, ready to carry the league on their shoulders.
The list of names is actually remarkable. This isn't to say these QBs will replace Brady. We need to always be careful about stating that. Some were already slotting Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes onto Brady's throne, and then Joe Burrow stole Mahomes' seat.
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Another important part of this future star quarterback love story is that these players – at least not yet, and hopefully never – are not hated as much as Brady was. Brady was so dominant, his heel turn was almost permanent.
All is far from lost in the NFL without Brady. Some of the names who could fill that gigantic void:
Mahomes. He lost on Sunday in the AFC title game to the Cincinnati Bengals and looked like a lost soul in the second half of the game. Nonetheless, he remains one of the smartest and magnificently talented quarterbacks in football. He has already won a Super Bowl, a Super Bowl MVP and a regular-season MVP, and he has played in four straight AFC title games.
Burrow. His Bengals beat Mahomes in one of the great playoff comebacks. He's already popular in part because he's immensely talented. But his personality is a combination of Joe Namath and Jim McMahon. Will people eventually tire of Burrow? Not if he keeps winning.
Lamar Jackson. Still the most electric quarterback in football whose speed and strong arm make him a constant threat to take over a game or even a season. When he's healthy, few are better.
Justin Herbert. The Raiders won their Jan. 10 regular-season finale against the Chargers and advanced to the playoffs, but Herbert gave the league a taste of what's to come. He was brilliant, going 34 of 64 for 383 yards and three touchdowns. He might be the most purely talented of them all.
Josh Allen. If there were one player you'd put at the top of the list to replace Brady, it might be the Bills' Allen. He lost in the divisional round to Mahomes' Chiefs, 42-36 in overtime, but he threw for 329 yards and four touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 68 yards. Allen went home and Mahomes moved on, but Allen made a strong argument as the best potential Brady replacement.
There are other young quarterbacks to watch. In Dallas, there's Dak Prescott. In Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts helped take the Eagles to the playoffs. In New England, the man who literally replaced Brady, Mac Jones, has shown promise. There's Tua Tagovailoa in Miami and Trey Lance in San Francisco. We shouldn't forget Arizona's Kyler Murray
Of course, not all of them will work out. The players we think will be great may not be, and the ones we think could be busts will be in Super Bowls.
What we do know is that the league is in good hands when it comes to the quarterback position.
There won't be another Brady, but there are plenty of good candidates to carry the league into the next decade. At least.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL after Tom Brady: Joe Burrow, young QBs are ready take center stage
