Tom Brady spent most of his career as the man rival fans love to hate.

Every league has a villain that the majority like to root against.

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In it NBA that’s it LeBron Jamesand three-peat hunts Patrick Mahomes is the next man up in the NFL.

What they all have in common – championship.

Brady won seven rings over two different franchises before hanging up his cleats and moving into the booth.

LeBron is chasing a five, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Mahomes is in line for the third straight time Super Bowl triumph and fourth overall.

The Chiefs slipped to 9-1 after a loss to Buffalo Bills in week 11.

Bills cornerback Cam Lewis picked off Mahomes and believes the passer deserves his villainous status.

“I feel like he deserved it,” Bills cornerback Cam Lewis said FOX Sports.

“LeBron, one of the greatest basketball players, and he gets a lot of hate from winning championships.

“Steph Curry. So it just comes with the success. I think that should be a compliment to (Mahomes).

“I mean, heck, he’s won Super Bowls. That’s what you try to do in this league. He’s done it. So that’s why I say he’s earned it.”

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Mahomes hasn’t been at his best this season, with 11 picks.

That’s just three of his total for the entire 2023 campaign – his career high.

That has given his critics plenty of ammunition to flood social media. But it sounds like the bosses aren’t worried about the noise outside.

“If you don’t have haters, you’re not doing something right,” safety Justin Reid told Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna.

“So Patrick operates at a level of excellence — Patrick operates at a very high level consistently, and when you do that, everybody’s watching.

“It’s natural that people want their team to win, or they want to see who’s the top dog fall off the mountain. So it just is what it is.”

Mahomes is a loving husband and father who doesn’t give a damn about opponents.

His pregame interactions with the opposite number Josh Allen be all love and respect.

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“He doesn’t act like he’s on a pedestal like he’s better than anybody,” Chiefs running back Samaje Perine said.

“When you have as much success as he’s had, then people will find a way to hate him.

“He doesn’t let it affect him. He just goes out and plays his game and goes home to his family.

“That’s the type of guy he is. He’s a great locker room guy. He’s a great guy to be around. He’s just one of the guys.”

If Mahomes needs some advice on how to deal with the negative attention, LeBron is a good place to turn.

“I play the game fun, happy, and I let my game do all the talking and I got away with it. That’s what I lost last year,” he told ESPN in 2011.

“Going through my first seven years in the NBA, I was always the ‘liked’ one and being on the other side – they call it the dark side or the villain or whatever they call it – it was definitely challenging for myself.

“It was a situation I had never been in before, and it took a while. It took a long time to adjust to it.”

The best way to silence the doubters? A tree turf would be a start.