Patrick Mahomes has revealed he would love to play for as long as Tom Brady – but the Chiefs quarterback insists he will never let his NFL career come between him and his responsibilities as a father.

Brady spent 23 years in the league, winning seven Super Bowls, before calling time on his career last year.

The former Patriots and Buccaneers quarterback is now 46 but Brady admitted this week that he will ‘never be opposed’ to coming out of retirement.

Mahomes has lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy three times by the age of 28, having recently led Kansas City to a second successive championship at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.

The Chiefs quarterback has two young children with his wife Brittany – daughter Sterling (three) and Patrick ‘Bronze’, who will celebrate his second birthday in November.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has opened up on his future in the NFL

The 28-year-old has lead Kansas City to three Super Bowl wins in the past five years

He has two young children with his wife Brittany – daughter Sterling and Patrick ‘Bronze’

Mahomes told TIME he would love to play beyond 40 but he will not sacrifice time with his kids just to prolong his career.

‘I’ve looked, if I played until Tom (Brady)’s age, my daughter would be 19, 20 years old,’ he said. ‘That would mean missing plenty of youth sporting events and other commitments.’

He added: ‘I would love to play that long… at the same time, I want to be there for my daughter. If I can do that, I’ll continue to play. But if I feel like it’s taking away from my family time, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to go.’

Mahomes also insists that Brady has normalized the abnormal by enjoying such success until well into his forties.

‘Tom’s skewed people’s brains on how hard that is to do because of how well he took care of his body,’ the Chiefs stair said. ‘So I’m about to make sure that I get rid of this dad bod if I want to play to 45.’

Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls during a remarkable 23-year career in the NFL

Brady revealed he is not opposed to returning to the NFL if the opportunity arose

‘I think I’ve done a great job so far. But it’s hard to take away from what Tom did,’ Mahomes said

Victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas saw Mahomes become only the fifth quarterback in NFL history to win at least three Super Bowls.

He now sits alongside Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Troy Aikman. But the 28-year-old insists he is ‘nowhere near’ the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT). He won’t even entertain the discussion until after his career is over.

‘You have to build a consistency of a career,’ he said. ‘You see that in any sport. I’ve had a great run. I think I’ve done a great job so far. But it’s hard to take away from what Tom did for so long, what Peyton Manning did, or Aaron Rodgers.

‘There are so many guys, they were at such a high level for such a long time. In order to be in that conversation, you have to do that on a year-to-year basis. You can’t take it for granted that you did it the year before.’

Mahomes has climbed to the top of football after turning his back on a career in baseball. The quarterback’s father was a pitcher for the likes of the Red Sox and the Cubs. Mahomes Jr was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2014 but did not sign a contract.

The Chiefs quarterback is a minority owner of the Kansas City Royals baseball team

Mahomes has climbed to the top of football after turning his back on a career in baseball

These days, Mahomes is a minority owner of the Kansas City Royals, who play next door to Arrowhead Stadium. The 28-year-old has no plans to juggle careers in baseball and football – or follow Michael Jordan’s lead and switch between sports.

But he has spoken to the MLB team about joining practice one day. ‘If I can maybe go out to a spring training, I’m not opposed to that,’ he said.

‘I’ll get it approved by the Chiefs and everything like that. But maybe one of these years I go out there and see what I got. See if I can still hit the ball or pitch or whatever that is. Maybe not in the games but I can at least practice with them.’

Chiefs coach Andy Reid joked that he would be happy for Mahomes to step up to the plate on one condition: ‘He’d have to take me as a manager,’ he told TIME.