NFL legend Joe Montana reveals why he snubbed Patrick Mahomes from his QB Mount Rushmore that includes Josh Allen

The idea of keeping Patrick Mahomes out of the top quarterbacks in the NFL seems ludicrous, but Joe Montana did just that in his recent appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show." The four-time Super Bowl champion had an interesting question on Tuesday.

Montana was asked by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians to name the quarterbacks he would pick to build his franchise around. Montana named three AFC quarterbacks, but none of them was the three-time Super Bowl champion.

I'm thinking I'm taking the guy in Buffalo, Josh. Joe Burrow's another guy I like a lot and, and, believe it or not, I like the guy with the Chargers, Justin Herbert," Montana said. "I think they just kind of went by the wayside there. But I just like the way all those three guys are. I do also like the guy in Philly, though, Jalen Hurts. I think I would have, if Patrick Mahomes was younger, although they're not getting hit as much today, so he'll probably play forever. So I should have probably added Patrick in there."

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While Montana mentioned Mahomes' age, he turns 30 in two weeks, curiously, Burrow, who's just a year younger, was mentioned by the former San Francisco 49ers superstar without regard to his age.

Bill Simmons also prefers Josh Allen to Patrick Mahomes for the 2025 season

It's not just former players who believe that the Bills quarterback has risen to the top of quarterback rankings. Sports analyst Bill Simmons recently had the same take during an episode of "The Ringer" podcast with Sheil Kapadia, and he listed his reasons for preferring Allen:

"I just think Josh Allen is the best quarterback in the league. Game by game, regular season, durability, he can make chicken salad out of chicken s***. From what we saw from Patrick last year, I just don't think it's fair to put him over Josh."

In the playoffs, Mahomes has defeated Allen in four of the past five seasons, including the 2024 AFC Championship Game. Despite a drop in his numbers during the past season, he's still the only quarterback of those mentioned by Montana who's a multiple-time Super Bowl champion.

About the author

Henrique Bulio is an NFL and College Football journalist at Sportskeeda and the Editor-in-Chief of Pro Football Brasil. He has a total 13 years of experience working in American Football, and playing quarterback at an amateur level in Brazil has given him a unique perspective of the game.

Henrique follows the Philadelphia Eagles closely due to Michael Vick's historic performance on MNF against the Washington Commanders in 2010. His all-time favorite player is Ed Reed; he believes that Reed is the greatest safety to ever play the game. Bill Belichick gets the nod as Henrique's favorite coach for coaching the Patriots to glory over two decades.

If Henrique were to be able to go back in time and watch one game, it would be Super Bowl XLIX, where the Patriots and the Seahawks played a complete, back-and-forth game that concluded with one of the biggest talking points in NFL history.

Technical deep dives are Henrique’s specialty, and he ensures never to use misleading words in his articles, since he himself consumes a lot of information off the web. He has had the privilege of interviewing Cairo Santos, Lamar Jackson, Jim Harbaugh, Sean McDermott, Bruce Arians, Matt LaFleur, among others.

Aside from football, Henrique likes to play poker and Counter-Strike.

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Edited by Henrique Bulio