Tom Brady is a "good bet" to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the first time of asking, though he will still have to wait five years.
Brady called time on his playing career on Wednesday, a year on from retiring for the first time.
While that stint out of the game only lasted 40 days, the legendary quarterback – a seven-time Super Bowl champion – said he was retiring "for good" this time around.
Brady is sure to go down as one of the greatest athletes of all time, though that does not mean he will be able to skip any queue in order to become a Hall of Famer.
Indeed, while Hall of Fame chief communications officer Rich Desrosiers believes Brady will make it into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot, the earliest that will come will be 2028.
"Even Tom Brady has to wait, even Peyton Manning had to wait," Desrosiers told Stats Perform when asked if Brady could be fast-tracked into the Hall of Fame.
"There's some others that we can assume will be or would have been first ballot types of people – Peyton Manning, one that I mentioned, this same conversation came up with him.
"You've got a couple of guys out there whose clocks are running: a Larry Fitzgerald, let's say a Drew Brees.
"I think many people assume they'd be first-ballot guys. It's just something the hall doesn't want to do, because then you've created a precedent, you've established a line, and who's making that determination?
"It's also unfair to the people who are queued up right now to be part of the class of 2024. If Tom were to have the five-year mandatory waiting period waived, then he's really knocking someone else out of the class of 2024, who has been waiting to get in, and we have many players who are on their second, third, fourth, fifth, even 10th year of eligibility.
"[If] all of a sudden, you're just saying, 'we're going to let somebody jump that line', you've displaced somebody else who's gone through the process. So it's not going to happen."
Asked if Brady will be into the Hall of Fame as soon as he can, Desrosiers said: "I would think so. Right now, we have 49 selectors.
"These are 49 mostly active journalists from around the country. They meet and consider the candidacies and each person who's up for election has a presenter who presents the case for the person under consideration.
"The debate might last five minutes 10 minutes, 20. There's been debates on candidates that have gone into 25-30 minute range when you really are starting to weigh this person against that person in the past, and I think it may have started with Brett Farve – Brett's presenter stood up and said two words – 'Brett Farve' and sat back down.
"It happened again with Peyton Manning, and I'm pretty sure that whoever is the presenter for Tom Brady will take a similar approach. They'll just say, 'Tom Brady', sit down.
"Nothing can ever be assumed. But it's probably a pretty good bet."
On Brady's illustrious career, Desrosiers added: "There's people far more talented than I am in debating those things. We'll let them debate that but it's hard to argue with seven Super Bowl championships, five Super Bowl MVPs, he's virtually passing every record, whatever number you want to throw out there.
"He's at the top or near the top of every offensive statistical category there is and a winner, and the longevity – there's plenty of boxes, you can check on the side of the ledger that says greatest of all time for sure."
Wrexham can cherish Premier League dream under Reynolds and McElhenney, claims coach Jones
Wrexham's first-team coach David Jones does not see why the club cannot dream of achieving Premier League status following their promotion from the National League.
The Welsh outfit ended a 15-year exodus from the English Football League with promotion to League Two this season, Phil Parkinson's men finishing as champions with a record 111 points.
Under Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the Red Dragons have experienced an explosion of fortunes both on and off the pitch.
Any prospect of top-flight football is still several seasons away at the very least, but reflecting on their impressive rise, Jones does not see their hopes as fanciful.
"I think with the way that the owners have come in and started to put infrastructure in the club, they're doing it the right way," he told Stats Perform.
"The way that they've got that connection with fans, with players, they've really got together [and] united the whole club.
"Anything's possible, especially with these owners and what we've witnessed in the last two years.
"Obviously, we're not naive enough to say that it's not going to be a difficult challenge to get to the Premier League.
"Many teams try and do it every year, and they're already in the Championship, investing huge sums of money. There's no guarantee of anything in football.
"But with the current manager and the staff that he's put in place, they're experienced football guys who know what it takes to get promoted and get through the leagues, and what the club needs to progress.
"If those things are in place, you stand a better chance of success. I think it's a realistic aim, if we keep doing the things that we've been doing for the last couple of years."
Eyebrows were raised when actors Reynolds and McElhenney took over at Wrexham, but any fears the move was a mere publicity stunt have abated amid the club's revival.
Jones applauded the owners for uniting the city, highlighting how they have not sought to cut corners in helping to turn matters around after a decade-and-a-half in the doldrums.
"With that kind of energy, anything's possible," he added. "From the word go, they've done everything the right way. They've done fantastically.
"To be able to enter the football world and to be able to have the impact they have done is very difficult. Sometimes it's a closed shop, and if you don't speak the football language it is difficult for people to have to buy in.
"The way that they've done things, they have the respect of everybody. I can't speak highly enough of the job they've done."
Mourinho and Roma deserve bans for Taylor treatment, says Ref Support chief
Jose Mourinho should be suspended from coaching and Roma barred from European competitions following the "disgraceful" harassment of Anthony Taylor after Wednesday's Europa League final.
That is the view of Martin Cassidy, chief executive of Ref Support UK – a charity committed to supporting officials – after Taylor was abused following Roma's penalty shoot-out defeat to Sevilla.
Roma boss Mourinho was fiercely critical of Taylor's performance as Sevilla won a record-extending seventh Europa League title via spot-kicks following an ill-tempered 1-1 draw in Budapest.
Thirteen players were booked during the match, while Gonzalo Montiel scored his winning penalty at the second attempt after Rui Patricio was punished for encroachment after initially saving his kick.
Mourinho was seen shouting expletives at Taylor after the game, and the English official was harassed by Giallorossi supporters when at Budapest Airport with his family.
Speaking to Stats Perform, Cassidy outlined the strong punishments he would like to see issued to coaches who abuse officials.
"I'd be interested to speak to the legal people in UEFA and FIFA, to see if they could take their coaching badges away from them," Cassidy said.
"Take it away from them. Say, 'I'm sorry, we are going to suspend your badge, you can't coach at that level'. Let's see what that does.
"Obviously, big legal challenges will come that way. But let's have things in place to say, 'Look, a stadium ban is not working on you and one or two fines when you are a multimillionaire are not going to bother you'.
"Let's really hurt you, let's take you away from being able to coach, let's suspend your coaching badge. Job done."
Cassidy believes Mourinho's behaviour is being replicated by grassroots coaches, and says his club should be barred from Europe or handed a points deduction for next season.
"It's just disgraceful," he added. "How many chances does this man [Mourinho] want before some national governing body or UEFA or FIFA take appropriate action against him?
"This behaviour he shows manifests itself at grassroots level when there's a youth referee in the middle, and little mini-Mourinhos are on the sidelines repeating and replicating those antics.
"It's not good at all. And I just think, the managers – it's not just Jose Mourinho – other people do it and have been doing for a long time… they throw in a small fine, it might be £100 or £1,000.
"That's a small fine for some of these people, for some of them it is not even a week's wages. They throw in a ban, well, Jose Mourinho has been banned before from stadiums and still found a way of doing his coaching.
"What are UEFA going to do? I think don't allow them to play in Europe next year.
"If they do allow them to play in Europe, let's have them on a minus points deficit of say three or four points, let's just have a message that is different to what we've been doing previously."
Nzonzi forever grateful to Allardyce and says Big Sam's management still has a place
Steven Nzonzi feels there is still a place for Sam Allardyce and his style of management, despite the former England manager having suffered two relegations in his last two jobs.
Allardyce could not save Leeds United from dropping to the Championship, with the 68-year-old failing to win any of his four games in charge after he replaced Javi Gracia in May.
Leeds confirmed on Friday that Allardyce would be leaving the club.
It is the second Premier League relegation on Allardyce's CV, after he also went down with West Brom in the 2020-21 season.
Nzonzi, who worked under Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers, feels his old boss' style of management is not outdated.
He told Stats Perform: "Of course, there is a place, there is no question about it, he has great experience and I think that Leeds may have brought him a little bit late.
"I played under Sam Allardyce, and trust me he is a big character, and he has big charisma.
"So, for me, to save a team he is one of the best for sure, but it is difficult to come in and he managed four games. I think it was a bit too late.
"But of course, he has great experience, so he can still manage in the Premier League, in the Championship, he is a great coach, I have great memories of working with him, amazing memories."
Indeed, Nzonzi, who would go on to represent major clubs like Sevilla and Roma after playing under Big Sam, says Allardyce is the coach he is most grateful to.
"That would be impossible for me to say, I enjoyed so many managers," he said when asked who the best coach he had worked under was.
"The one I enjoyed the most was [Jorge] Sampaoli, but the one I am more grateful about is Sam Allardyce, because I came from the second division in France and to start me in the Premier League against Manchester City, for the first game of the season - it was the game that changed my vision and my life.
"It gave me confidence that I have the ability to play at a high level, so I would say Sam Allardyce for that."
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