Chris Simms knows exactly what kind of reaction he’s about to get from the NFL community. The former NFL quarterback and the New England Patriots’ coaching assistant from 2012 just ranked the top 10 passers in their prime years. Shocking everyone, he placed Tom Brady No. 9 on that list, and then brought out the receipts.

“I know I’m probably going to get blowback for this right here, but Tom Brady did get afforded the luxury,” Simms said on Chris Simms Unbuttoned, “especially in his prime in the early years of ‘We’re not asking you to carry the team, Belichick’s gonna come up with an unbelievable defensive game plan. We’re going to run the ball and be physical, and then we just need you to be clutch at the end of the football game and do that right now.’

“He certainly had a few years that are awesome in his prime. I’m certainly not trying to downplay that. But do I think he’s capable? And again, if you put him in the normal quarterback rankings, my top 40, if you put him in some other situations, I don’t know if it would have looked as pretty that way. But regardless, yeah. Tom Brady, all-time arm, all-time commander on the field, and doing stuff like that.”

The reason for Simms’ verdict was the Pats’ all-star cast. Head coach Bill Belichick consistently found elite players to build around Brady with a big emphasis on the run game. Antowain Smith ran wild for 1,157 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2001, and became one of the linchpins of Super Bowl XXXVI and XXXVIII. Corey Dillon came next during the 2004-06 stretch, and helped the Pats secure Super Bowl XXXIX with his legs (1,635 yards, 12 touchdowns). Kevin Faulk locked the room for 13 seasons, while James White and LeGarrette Blount took up the workload in later years. But they weren’t the only weapons at TB12’s disposal.

Randy Moss caught an NFL record 23 touchdowns in 2007, the same year Brady threw for 50 TDs. Wes walked, hauling in 112 passes for 1,175 yards that season, becoming the slot weapon no one saw coming. Rob Gronkowski holds the franchise record with 79 receiving touchdowns and has made five Pro Bowls. Julian Edelman finished second in team history (behind Welker) with 620 receptions and won Super Bowl LIII MVP.

While placing Brady at the ninth spot, Simms also listed Dan Marino, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Brett Favre, John Elway, Aaron Rodgers, and Patrick Mahomes, all the way up to No. 2 – in that order. He then ended his list with Brady’s biggest NFL rival – Peyton Manning.

“I’m not sure you could do more with less like you could [with] some of these guys on this list,” Simms said. “And that’s where I would argue Tom Brady always made comments to people. Again, ‘If Aaron Rodgers played my offense, he’d throw for [7,000] yards.’ So, he was aware of that as well. So, Brady, Amazing, but not going to extend plays, needs pass protection and all of that. No backyard plays really, very few in the history of his whole career. … Again, he was awesome in his prime. But some of these other guys we’re going to talk about are like one-man shows that overcame unreal obstacles, and they still were good teams because the guy was so phenomenal.”

Simms went back to 2018, when Brady told reporters that Aaron Rodgers was “so much more talented” than him and would do very well under Bill Belichick. Belichick ran the Patriots with a no-nonsense approach, treating every training rep like it was the playoffs. Brady himself had admitted it was difficult to play under Belichick, but noted that it was this intensity that made the Patriots great.

Now, none of this takes anything away from what Brady achieved in his NFL career – seven Super Bowl rings, 5 Super Bowl MVP titles, 3 MVP honors, 15 Pro Bowls, and a list of accolades longer than what two or three athletes would combine to achieve in their lifetime.

Simms’ prime ranking doesn’t erase Brady’s career. It just asks how much of that greatness came from the man, and how much from the system built around him. And perhaps the best analysis of Brady’s career came from Bill Belichick himself, when the coach appeared on Pardon My Take this May and spoke about Tom’s rookie years.

“I didn’t think [Brady] was good enough to be the backup,” Belichick had said. ‘I always say Tom wasn’t great, he wasn’t even really good… But he became great.”