Deion Sanders names greatest QB between Tom Brady, Joe Montana

Hall of Famer and current Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders is taking Tom Brady over Joe Montana in his unofficial vote for the greatest quarterback of all time.

"Just the will that he had," Sanders told NBC Sports' Peter King about choosing Brady over Montana. "The will. The way. What he brought to the game. And his fire and his passion. I’ve never heard anybody, a player, say anything negative about how he attacked the game. He’s a winner. He’s a darn winner. Once upon a time for me, it was Montana. It was Joe. Shoot, it was Joe. But Brady with the Super Bowl wins eclipsed that."

The G.O.A.T. conversation has repeatedly resurfaced since Brady announced his "for good" retirement on Feb. 1. 

New York Giants legend and Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor said back in September that Brady was "not better than Joe Montana," and Taylor repeated that take last week ahead of Super Bowl LVII. 

Sports radio icon Mike Francesa raised eyebrows when he said during a television appearance earlier this month that Brady wasn't the greatest regular-season or Super Bowl quarterback in history. 

Montana went a perfect 4-0 in career Super Bowl starts, while Brady retired a second time holding a 7-3 record in championship games. 

Pro-Football-Reference shows that Montana's 127.8 career passer rating in Super Bowl contests remains the highest in history, but Billy Heyen of Sporting News mentioned ahead of this past weekend that Brady is the only player with five Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Awards on his résumé.

To compare, Montana is a three-time Super Bowl MVP. 

Last week, Sanders explained why he believes no quarterback will equal Brady and earn seven career Super Bowl rings. 

That was before Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs became a two-time Super Bowl champion on Sunday night well before his 28th birthday which he'll celebrate this coming September.