New England Patriots - NESN.com
The worst sports take of the week goes to ESPN’s Ryan Clark, who included New England Patriots legend Tom Brady in an absolutely bananas statement during an episode of First Take on Thursday.
Clark, seated with fellow ESPN analysts Dan Orlovsky and Stephen A. Smith, was discussing the concept of a “generational talent” when it comes to NFL quarterbacks, a conversation that began while the talking heads were reviewing Arch Manning’s recent play.
“I think there’s less (generational talents) than … you think,” Clark said.
“I think John Elway was a generational talent. I think Patrick Mahomes is a generational talent. I don’t think Tom Brady, I don’t think Drew Brees, I don’t think Peyton Manning are generational talents. I think Andrew Luck ended up being a generational talent. I don’t think there’s a ton of them out there.”
Not surprisingly, Clark’s comments caused an uproar on X (by design, surely).
The thing is, Brady wasn’t always considered a “generational talent” — he was drafted in the sixth round and entered the NFL as a backup with little to no expectations attached to his name. By the time his career ended, though, isn’t it more than fair to say that Brady ended up being a generational talent?
Uh … yeah.
The more outlandish example provided by Clark was Peyton Manning, who was widely viewed as a generational talent since his college recruitment and subsequent college career at Tennessee, which led to Manning being the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft.
Manning then backed up all the hype with a Hall of Fame career. He’s arguably a top-three quarterback of all time.
If that’s not what a “generational talent” looks like … what are we even doing?
