When talking about GOATs, there are only a few names who can actually take the claim when it comes to the quarterback position. However, after another Super Bowl championship, how close is Patrick Mahomes from saying he's the best quarterback ever?
There are few positions in sports that have as much impact on a game as the quarterback position has on the NFL. The difference between a good and bad quarterback is often the difference between a good and bad NFL team. The iconic teams always have great quarterbacks. Name a dynasty without a great QB. We'll wait.
Think about those great teams without a fantastic QB. The 1985 Chicago Bears probably had the best defense ever, but they only won one Super Bowl. The Purple People Eaters couldn't get over the top. Those great Baltimore Ravens defenses only had one Super Bowl, and that's because they faced Kerry Collins that season.
We go through the best of the best that have ever thrown the ball. But first, let's go through those who just missed the cut.
Honorable Mention
This one will hurt a few, so let's get it out of the way right away. Eli Manning obviously had some great seasons, but he wasn't a top quarterback for as long as we remember. Those Super Bowl teams had Manning doing just enough. We'll always remember the David Tyree and the Mario Manningham catches. There was a clutch factor to Manning that might be unmatched, but it's too hard to quantify that to add him to the list. Plus, leading the league in interceptions three times while never leading in touchdowns pushes him too far away from the other QBs on the list.
Philip Rivers comes from the same NFL Draft as Eli Manning, and he was actually traded for him after the Giants technically drafted him with the fourth-overall pick. For the rest of their careers, they traded places as some of the best QBs in the league. Unfortunately, Rivers didn't see the same playoff success as Manning, never actually making it to the Super Bowl. Still, Rivers finished sixth all-time in passing yards and sixth in passing touchdowns with 421.
If we took the best "peaks" of the quarterbacks on this list, Cam Newton would absolutely be on this list. He was one of the best players in the league for a four-season stint. He won MVP in 2015, taking his team to 15 wins and the franchise's second Super Bowl appearance. He threw too many interceptions, and his career fell off a cliff once he joined the New England Patriots (although, that first year he was weirdly good in a run-heavy offense).
Jim Plunkett finished his career with 72 wins and 72 losses, perfectly encapsulating his playing style's inconsistencies. Plunkett was a gunslinger before it was cool, and it led to a high-risk, high-reward, high-penalty career. He threw a ton of interceptions, but he also found his niche with the Oakland Raiders late in his career. He didn't really become a star until he was in his mid-30s, and he took advantage of the last few years in the league. He won two Super Bowls and a Super Bowl MVP but never made a Pro Bowl. It was a strange and unspectacular career, but he also made some of the biggest plays of the era.
It's really hard to quantify the impact the quarterbacks of the 50s had on the league. Y. A. Tittle is one of the first greats of the NFL, but he played before the Super Bowl era. The league was not what it is in the 70s and 80s, let alone how passing is assessed today. Still, Tittle was one of the first greats. He is the first NFL player to don the cover of Sports Illustrated. He made it to seven Pro Bowls in his career and won the MVP in 1963 with the New York Giants. Tittle only ended up playing one more season after his MVP campaign, which shows how wild playing football was in that era.
Just to lift the curtain, this one was highly debated. Matt Ryan definitely has the stats to back up a claim to be one of the best QBs of all time, however, there's another argument that he was a compiler. Obviously, Ryan had his peak when he was the NFL MVP in 2016. One might argue that going to the Super Bowl and losing in the fashion he did, blowing a 25-point lead, ruined his career. Ryan never made a Pro Bowl after 2016 despite the high expectations laid upon the Falcons.
When looking at the all-time lists, Ryan stands ninth in passing touchdowns (381) and sixth in yards (62,792), but he was 39th in interceptions (showing he wasn't just compiling stats by simply playing a lot of games). Ryan was legitimately a great quarterback for a long time.
His reign as the best or close to the best quarterback in the league was short. His time as a QB in the conversation was not. In his rookie year, he carried the Falcons to 11 wins, won Rookie of the Year, and became the second rookie ever to throw for 3,000 yards (although some claim Jim Kelly makes it three).
Ryan was great for what he was. While not one of the very best of all time, he definitely has an argument for the Hall of Fame. His peak put him in that special air where he could claim to be the best of the era.
This one has the most boom or bust level left. Russell Wilson was absolutely one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history during his time with the Seattle Seahawks. Let's ignore what happened last season with the Denver Broncos for a second. During Wilson's 10 years in Seattle, he wasn't named a Pro Bowler just once. He was often considered a top-three player in the league, although that MVP award has eluded him so far.
Wilson came into the league as an undersized yet talented third-round pick. He was supposed to be the backup to Matt Flynn (remember him?) in his rookie season, but he was so good in training camp Pete Carroll ignored Flynn's $19.5 million contract and started the rookie. It turned out to be the right decision, as Wilson led the Seahawks to 11 wins and got some traction in the most ridiculous rookie QB class maybe ever (ignoring their careers, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Russell Wilson's rookie seasons might be unmatched).
In his 11 years in the league, Wilson is already 13th all-time in passing touchdowns (308) and is still fifth in passer rating all-time despite his terrible Broncos season. He should pass 5,000 rushing yards on his career this year.
Maybe Wilson just couldn't find a place in last year's system. Now, he has Sean Payton calling the shots. If anyone can save the career of a possible Hall of Famer, it's Payton. Wilson can literally find himself in the top 15 of this list easily if he can repeat some of his previous six or seven seasons with the Broncos. If he can't, he will eventually get passed by the likes of Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and possibly Trevor Lawrence.
Speaking of a player ahead of his time, Randall Cunningham was fantastic at many aspects of the game that are priorities in 2023. He could scramble to extend plays on a team that never could block for him. He could also put some serious air under the ball.
Cunningham was immediately impactful when he took over the starting role in Philadelphia. He made the Pro Bowl three years in a row from 1988 to 1990 and was second in MVP voting twice in that span. This is someone who made something out of nothing on almost every play. Six times with the Eagles, Cunningham led the league (or was at the bottom of the league, depending on how you look at it) in sack yards.
Cunningham was the first quarterback to even approach 1,000 yards rushing. In 1990, he had 942 yards rushing, a record that stood until Michael Vick broke it more than a decade later. His ridiculous eight yards per carry that year still stands as one of the best averages of all time. Imagine running the ball more than 100 times and still averaging eight yards each time. He was a first-down machine.
There was a second era to Cunningham's career when the Minnesota Vikings talked him out of retirement. He was able to guide them to a playoff win in his first season in purple. His second season was one of his best, leading the Vikings to a 15-1 record while coming in second for MVP again (always a bridesmaid, as they say). He led the league in passer rating in what would be his last full season in the league.
The 1970s Raiders were some of the best teams of that era. Usually, when a great team has a great quarterback leading them to championships, he gets all the recognition. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for Ken Stabler. For years, Stabler was considered one of the best names left outside the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Then, he passed away in 2015. The very next year, he was voted into the Hall of Fame. It's terrible that this is how it played out, and he couldn't experience his own induction, but it's great he finally got to the place he deserves to be.
Stabler had an interesting career, changing his playing style throughout. At times, he was the most accurate quarterback in the league (leading the league in passing efficiency twice), and at other times, he was a big-play maker (leading the league in average yards per attempt in 1976). He was an MVP in 1974, throwing for 26 touchdowns and winning 11 of the 13 games he started.
This was a great playoff performer, similar to how we see Brady now. He made five straight AFC Championship Game appearances starting in 1973. Only Brady has been to more in a row.
After leaving Oakland, things took a turn for Stabler. With the Houston Oilers, he was asked to do more than his aging body could handle. He threw way too many interceptions and tried to hold onto the end of his career with the New Orleans Saints. Those terrible final four years are the reason Stabler was never able to live through his Hall of Fame induction. It shouldn't change how we look at his impact on the game and position as a whole.
This one is a hard one, but Joe Theismann took time to hit his stride. Then, he became one of the best in the league and sometimes the best at his position. He won the 1983 NFL MVP with 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. It was at that moment he finally found his greatness. The only problem was he was already 34 years old. QBs still made it work until they were close to 40 back then, but we all remember how Theismann lost those last few years of his career.
Before we get into all that, let's go back to the beginning. Theismann came to Washington after the Miami Dolphins traded his rights for a first-round pick. He spent most of his first season as a kick returner since Washington was using Billy Kilmer as the starting QB (and Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen). It took five seasons, but Theismann finally took the starting role from Kilmer and never gave it back.
With such a slow start to his career, the Notre Dame star looked like it would be impossible to make a long-term impact on the sport. However, in the strike-shortened 1982-83 season, Theismann finally brought Washington its first Super Bowl championship. Coming off the momentum of a championship, Theismann had his best season in 1983, winning the MVP.
Of course, Theismann is most known for the hit by Lawrence Taylor that shattered his leg and ended his career. The game was on national television, so all eyes were on this devastating hit. If Theismann just played his career with the Dolphins, he probably would have started earlier, lasted longer, and would have made it much higher on this list.
This is the first real surprise on the list. Most Chargers fans would likely have Philip Rivers ahead of Dan Fouts, but based on the era and the output, Fouts slightly sneaks onto this list while Rivers is stuck being an honorable mention. Rivers leads in all statistical categories, but Fouts had such an impact on the game. He deserves this honor.
Fouts was incredibly efficient with his passes, something that had not yet been established as essential to wins and losses. He could stretch the field, another concept that was a little foreign to many around the league. He was often over 60 percent passing, and he led the league in passing yards four years in a row from 1979 to 1982. He was dominating the league going into the 80s.
Despite the numbers, Fouts never won an MVP. He came in second in 1979 and 1982. In 1982, he lost to a kicker. That's a real low point for NFL voting. We should erase that voting and give the award to Fouts. Let's rectify this wrong.
Anyway, Fouts is one of the best to ever do this. He's that rare talent that would absolutely be good in any era. Fouts would be up there as a top-five talent in 2023. For now, he has to settle for a top-30 QB of all time.
Joe Namath is one of the most famous quarterbacks of all time. Is he one of the best? That's a different question.
He has the most famous guarantee in all of American sports. When he told everyone the New York Jets were going to beat the Colts in Super Bowl III, the prevailing thought was that he was nuts. The AFL was the lesser league, and this was the Johnny Unitas-led Baltimore Colts.
We hear about this win, knowing Namath made the call and showed his cards, winning possibly the biggest game in early NFL history. He became a global megastar, transcending football and becoming a household name in the process. Did the superstardom actually stop Namath from becoming one of the very greats to ever play the game? The precipitous fall from grace is hard to argue.
We always hear how Namath was overrated, but we need to look into his career. He was the first quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards. He jumped under center for the Jets the moment he left Alabama. New York paid him more than any player coming out of college after making him the first overall pick. He was named the league's Rookie of the Year and the top player in 1968.
From 1965 to 1969, Namath was the best player on the planet. Yes, this is a world with Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas, who are higher on this list, but he was simply untouchable in that timeframe. Then, he started to get injured, and his numbers plummeted. He had one more great season in 1972, but he still threw way too many interceptions. It's just a weird career overall, but we can't not have him on this list. He was truly one of the best to ever do it when he was at his best, even if his best was fleeting.
Here comes another surprise. Pittsburgh Steelers will not be happy to see Ben Roethlisberger where he's at on this list. Big Ben was really good during his long time in the NFL, but he falls just short of the top 20 when it comes to the greats of any era. Roethlisberger has all the pure numbers. He is fifth all-time in passing yards. The fact that he's eighth in touchdowns kind of shows why he falls down the list, but let's focus on the positives first.
Roethlisberger was exactly what the Steelers needed at the perfect time. He didn't make a ton of mistakes for most of his career. He won the Rookie of the Year after that famous 2004 NFL Draft (beating out Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Larry Fitzgerald). Not only did he win, but he was unanimous after winning the first 15 regular season starts of his career.
Just like Mike Tomlin, Roethlisberger is a winner. He has two seasons where he had a losing record out of 18, and one of those seasons he only played two games. The Steelers had great defenses, but Roethlisberger had to still be very good to get the teams where they got. He was in a conference with Brady, Peyton Manning, and many other greats. He was still able to win two Super Bowls.
Okay, let's get just slightly negative. Roethlisberger is not a top-20 quarterback. He had some pretty seriously bad Super Bowl performances, and he needed to be bailed out by his skill players and defenses. He also has some bad head-to-head records against his most famous opponents. He went 3-9 against Tom Brady, including the playoffs. He also had losing records against Manning (although he did beat him in the playoffs on his most famous tackle). Still, Ben was one of the best of his era.
Here's another controversial take for his position, but it feels very similar to Big Ben. Troy Aikman was on one of the best teams in the NFL. This isn't trying to disparage what he did. Troy Aikman was one of the greats of the 90s, but it was a weird era. It was right before the true boom of quarterback play. He also saw his career cut short by concussions, and that severely impacted his stats.
Still, those stats on paper are severely unimpressive. He ranks 78th all time in touchdown passes, oddly one behind current Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. His close to 33,000 yards passing ranks him 44th all time. This is behind names like Tony Romo and Ryan Tannehill. We know it is a different era, but it is not a great look to be where he is in the all-time ranks.
This is all to say that Aikman still was the right player in the right place at the right time. It takes a certain type of player to take a backseat when it's necessary. Emmitt Smith is one of the best of all time at running back, and Aikman knew that handing him the ball was their best chance at winning. When necessary, he could turn it on.
Aikman played in three Super Bowls and only threw one interception. He actually threw for four touchdowns and no interceptions against the Buffalo Bills in his first Super Bowl appearance. He played it safe and won championships. We celebrate winning, and Aikman deserves his flowers for that.
Let's go from a player who had immense success in winning to a player who had immense success in stats wherever he went. Warren Moon didn't have the traditional all-time great career. Since he was worried his college career at the University of Washington wasn't enough to lock in a decent NFL opportunity, he signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He was ridiculous North of the Border, throwing for 21,000 yards and 144 touchdowns in just six seasons.
He joined the NFL's Houston Oilers, following his former CFL head coach in 1984. Moon was already in his prime, and he jumped right out of the gate. He was asked to carry his team in season one, throwing for 3,338 yards on 450 attempts. Moon stuck around the NFL for the next 17 years, playing until he was 44 years old.
Moon finished his career 13th in yards and 16th in touchdowns. He was one of the greats of this era, showing what a true high-volume passer looks like. On paper, Moon did have too many interceptions, but that was the nature of his offense not the nature of his talent or ability.
Imagine if Moon never played in the CFL. Imagine in NFL scouts didn't put a late-round grade on him coming out of Washington. There are so many what-ifs with Moon, and it likely leads to him rocketing up this list. For now, he stands just outside the top 20.
Kurt Warner was the best quarterback in the league multiple times, and he was a complete bust at other times, then he finished his career lifting an Arizona Cardinals franchise that had its best moment in the Jerry Maguire movie. Now, people from this era remember the Cardinals for coming ridiculously close to beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the biggest game in that franchise's history. It was all because of Warner.
Let's start at the beginning. Everyone knows the story. They made a movie about it. He was working at a supermarket, and then he not only made it to the NFL, but he made it to the best offenses of the late 90s, early 2000s.
The St. Louis Rams let Kurt Warner take over the "Greatest Show on Turf" when Trent Green went down in 1999. He went on to win one of the most out-of-nowhere MVPs in NFL history. He went on to lead the league in completion percentage for three years in a row. He won the MVP award in 1999 and 2001, going to the Super Bowl both seasons and winning one of them. Warner fell off a cliff in 2002, losing the final seven starts of his career.
We'll just completely skip over the New York Giants portion of Warner's career. It can't help this at all. When he went to the Cardinals, he was trying to resurrect his career. It took a few years, but he eventually did it. Warner even broke 4,500 yards in 2008, making his final Pro Bowl and even garnered MVP votes again. Warner is a deserving Hall of Famer. His peaks are matched by only a few quarterbacks in history.
Terry Bradshaw has been on TV so long that most people know him more for that than his time under center for four Super Bowl Championships. He had a career that wouldn't last in today's NFL. He had a similar start to his career as the current career of Zach Wilson. He had six touchdowns and 24 interceptions in his first year as a starter. It didn't last as long as some pretend to remember, because he went 11-3 just two years later. Then, he went 8-1 the next year.
Bradshaw won the MVP in 1978, so he wasn't just carried by a great defense. Bradshaw became a legitimate great at the position. He led the league in touchdowns twice, including his last full season in the league.
Of course, Bradshaw is known best for his playoff performances. He won 14 games in the postseason and only marked five losses. In those 17 games, he has 30 touchdown passes. He also owns what's been deemed the Greatest Throw of All Time with his game-winning touchdown pass for 64 yards to Lynn Swann in Super Bowl X.
There is no doubt that Bradshaw wasn't great at the beginning, even as his team was winning almost every game. Then, he became the reason they were winning. It doesn't matter that he wouldn't have made it in 2023. He was great in the 70s, and that turned him into an all-time great.
There is a clear line right here. Fran Tarkenton is one of the very best ever, but it's hard to put him higher than 18th on this list. He is very high on the list of all time stats (14th in yards and 11th in touchdowns). He was one of the very best in the league in two different decades. This was someone who was elusive before that was a requirement for the position. He could not be stopped once he got moving.
Tarkenton started and ended his career with the Minnesota Vikings. He had a really good stretch with the Giants in between. He brought Big Blue back to prominence at a time when the New York Jets were becoming the kings of the big city. The Giants gave up two first-round picks and more to get Tarkenton, but he was only 27 years old and entering his prime.
The Vikings learned from their mistake and traded back for Tarkenton in 1972. He would bring them to three Super Bowls, even though the franchise has yet to win one.
The nine-time Pro Bowler ended his career in 1978 after 18 years in the league. In his final season, he led the league in passing. He could have kept going, but he was always contemplating when to hang 'em up. He will go down as one of the best dual threats in the history of the league, up there with Cam Newton and Michael Vick.
Jim Kelly had one of the wildest stretches of any quarterback in history. Even if he won just one Super Bowl, he would be considered much higher in the upper echelon of quarterback, but that feels unfair. Jim Kelly was one of the greats, and he really solidified an era that made the quarterback as important as ever.
Of course, Jim Kelly's totals are a little skewed since he started his career in the USFL. This was the time when this rogue league was taking some of the best players from college. He was drafted by the Bills, a team he originally didn't want to play for. However, the USFL convinced him to sign. He spent two years with the Houston Gamblers, where he threw for almost 10,000 yards in those two years. Then, he went back to the Bills after the USFL folded.
Two years after joining the Bills, Kelly led them to one of the most impressive feats nobody ever talks about. The Bills went to four straight Super Bowls. That's insane. For four straight seasons, Kelly was one win away from glory. Of course, the Bills found terrible ways to lose all four games. Still, Kelly deserves recognition for the original feat.
Kelly should have been a little better in the Super Bowl (he threw for seven interceptions in four games). Still, he was so great basically everywhere else that Kelly deserves to have his name mentioned with the best who has ever put on a jersey.
Like Joe Namath the year prior, Len Dawson led the upstart Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl Championship as the underdog AFL team against the Minnesota Vikings and Fran Tarkenton. Dawson's story is similar to many of the greats of this era. It took him five years to really find his footing in the NFL, a luxury he wouldn't get in 2023. He was drafted by the Steelers, but he was on the Browns and Texans before he finally found a home with the Chiefs.
Dawson was insanely good once he finally got a starting job. He led the league in touchdowns for four of five seasons, and the one outlier he had a career-high 30 touchdowns. He was the most accurate quarterback, finding the open receiver at a ridiculous clip. He led the league in accuracy seven of eight seasons from 1962 to 1969.
Dawson became known as Lenny the Cool because he was impervious to pressure. He never showed his emotion, and that probably got in the head of defensive players. He could avoid sacks and act like he knew where they were coming from. Maybe it was a sixth sense, but Dawson's ability to stay "cool" under pressure led to a lot of wins in his time.
In 2022, Dawson lost his life at the age of 87. He lived an incredible life, and the Chiefs honored him throughout the season. They ended up winning the Super Bowl, with Patrick Mahomes lifting the Lombardi Trophy at season's end. It seemed like a fitting end and a fitting tribute to one of the greats.
Steve Young as a quarterback will always be hard to pinpoint. He was the first really great rushing quarterback. He and Randall Cunningham showed that a QB who could focus more on their legs could succeed in that era of NFL football. Young finished his career with 4,239 rushing yards. Only Cunningham had more when he retired, but since then, Vick, Newton, Wilson, and Lamar Jackson have passed him.
Young started his career in the USFL, signing a ridiculous $40 million contract to forgo a first-overall selection with the Cincinnati Bengals. His original contract was deferred for 40 years, so he was technically supposed to still be getting paid for that contract today.
He joined the NFL after buying out that contract in what was already the final USFL season. He was downright awful with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was traded to the San Francisco 49ers, where he would be the backup to Joe Montana. Bill Walsh loved what he saw, and one of the most famous QB controversies in league history took place.
Young was a backup for four seasons before he finally got his chance. His first season in San Fran was average, but he won the MVP in his second season as the starter. He led the league in touchdowns and passing efficiency. He'd go on to win two MVPs, and he finally got that elusive Super Bowl win when he helped the Niners destroy San Diego Chargers in 1995.
The first one many considered the "greatest of all time" has seen his stock fall ever so slightly as the decades pass by. While Starr doesn't see his name at the top of the list anymore, he still deserves his flowers for being one of the best to ever take a snap. Starr is most famous for winning both Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II. Winning the biggest game twice in a row is huge, but when it's the first two ever, that will live on forever. When looking at the list of Super Bowls from top to bottom, Starr's name will be next to MVP on those first two instances.
However, Starr's dominance started before the Super Bowl era. He helped the Green Bay Packers win five NFL Championships in total. All those championships happened between the years of 1961 and 1967. Starr was a star in the playoffs. He is still one of the best of all time when the games mattered most. He is one of five players with a playoff passer rating over 100.
Starr usually gets hurt by the insane backfield he had to lean on. Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung are two of the best running backs of that era, and he had them both. Starr was able to use this insane running game to win games (Starr was also calling plays, which was common in this era).
Starr was a dominant player at this position. He led the league in passing multiple times and won the regular season MVP in 1966. We remember him for winning those first two Super Bowls, but he was much more when it came to his pure greatness.
Nobody tell Aaron this is where he ended up on this list. Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback. During the pinnacle of quarterback play, a time when QBs often broke records for statistical performances, Rodgers was often considered a top-three option. He was a four-time league MVP, a mark only Peyton Manning beat. Rodgers was considered the best the most times during a period of thriving for the position.
So, how is he ranked 13th? His stats are kind of odd. He's led the league in touchdowns twice, but he's never led the league in yards. He's only led the league in completion percentage once. He rarely throws interceptions (although last year was the first time in 12 seasons he had double-digit picks). Rodgers is one of the greats, no doubt, but there's something about his game that just doesn't get his team over the top.
The Packers are just 12-10 in the playoffs with Rodgers under center. He's lost four NFC Championship Games in a row and hasn't even been to the Super Bowl since he won his lone championship during the 2010-11 season.
Rogers is ninth all-time in yards and fifth in total passing touchdowns for his career. He was very good at many aspects of the game. Did you know he had one fewer rushing touchdowns than Michael Vick? This is a special, special player, but it's hard to put him ahead of the top 12 right now. If he finds a way to produce playoff success with the Jets, similar to what Brady did in Tampa Bay, he will easily make the top 10 and likely higher. For now, this is where he stands.
Going way back once again, Sammy Baugh is considered the first great superstar quarterback. He even predates Sid Luckman. Baugh is much different than any other quarterback on this list. He was also an all-world punter (he's had seasons where he led the league in punting average) and a fantastic defensive back (he recorded 11 interceptions in 1943 alone). This was an era where star players never left the field, and Baugh was the best at just about everything. In one game, Baugh threw for four touchdowns and got four interceptions on defense.
Let's focus on his passing. He led the league in yards four times, including an unheard-of 2,900 yards in 1947. He led the league in completion percentage eight times, a record he still holds today. His 70.3 completion percentage in 1945 was the industry standard for decades. It wasn't matched until 1982, when Ken Anderson set the record.
Baugh was a marvel in his time. Sportswriters and spectators were in awe of what he did. Who knows where football would be today if there was no Baugh. He was the Babe Ruth of football. Ahead of his time doesn't do him justice. Baugh was beyond great, and he could compete with just about anyone in today's game.
Baugh was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 1963, one of two QBs in that class (along with Dutch Clark).
Drew Brees is the man who broke the passing efficiency record, but he did it over and over again. Brees currently owns four of the top five passing efficiency seasons on record. This is the most accurate quarterback in NFL history, and it's not particularly close. The only player in league history with a better completion percentage than Brees is Joe Burrow, and it's not really fair to compare the two when Brees fell off a bit at the end. The next retired player on the list is Chad Pennington, who is 1.7% below Brees' 67.7% career mark.
It's not as well known now, but Brees' career could have gone completely different on multiple occasions. He was drafted in the first round by the San Diego Chargers, but it never really felt like a fit. Injuries and constant competition with veteran Doug Flutie caused Brees to never get going. To be fair to the Chargers, Brees didn't necessarily grab the brass ring.
The writing was on the wall after the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers in 2004. The Chargers kept Brees for one more season, but he would become a free agent in 2005. He was about to sign with the Miami Dolphins, but his shoulder injury led them to Daunte Culpepper instead. Brees went on to become a Hall of Famer after he decided to sign with the New Orleans Saints.
Brees became a compiler of all the stats. That's not a negative, either. Brees led the league in yards seven times with the Saints. He led the league in touchdowns four times. This was an offense that made the most of its weapons, and the league could not stop them. Brees went on to win Super Bowl XLIV, an important moment of hope for a city that was still devastated by Hurricane Katrina five years earlier. Brees became a hero for all of New Orleans, and his impact on the game of football proved a player is more than his size.
We've made it. This is the top ten quarterbacks in the history of this sport. Here, only the best of the best can take any claim to these spots. There is only one active quarterback left on the list, and he's the namesake of the article. First, let's look at the greatest quarterback for the most popular team in the NFL. Roger Staubach doesn't have the stats as some others on this list. His 22,700 career yards ranks 97th on the all-time list. He's behind Neil Lomax and Andrew Luck on the list.
However, Staubach didn't get into the league until he was 27 years old. He served his country in the Navy, including a tour in Vietnam as a Supply Corps officer. The Cowboys drafted Staubach knowing they'd have to wait for him, and it took five years after he was taken in the 10th round that he'd play his first snap in Dallas.
Tom Landry was non-commital to Staubach at first, playing Craig Morton at QB for most of his first two years in Dallas. Then, Staubach took the reigns and never gave them back in 1971. Once he became the starter that season, he won all ten games and went on to come in second for MVP. That season, he won the Cowboys their first Super Bowl with a commanding victory over the Miami Dolphins.
Staubach went on to win another Super Bowl with the Cowboys in 1977, another dominant win this time against the Denver Broncos. He appeared in two other Super Bowls, both losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Without Staubach, the Cowboys likely never gain the insane popularity they have today. With Staubach at the helm, the Cowboys became the catalyst for winning that lasted for decades. While Staubach's career only lasted 11 seasons, it was as impactful as anyone's on this list.
Brett Favre took the term "gunslinger" and injected it with rocket fuel. He was all or nothing on every play, and more times than not, it worked out for him. Favre seemed like he knew where the league was going. Throwing the ball was becoming the norm in the 90s, and Favre found how he could stand out. He threw the ball far, and he threw it where other quarterbacks would be scared to. He took chances, and it became part of what made him famous.
Favre won three-straight MVP awards from 1995 to 1997. He led the league in touchdowns all three seasons. During that span, he appeared in Super Bowl XXXI and Super Bowl XXXII, winning the former against the New England Patriots. Favre never appeared in another Super Bowl, which ended up being the black mark on his career. He came close on multiple occasions, but it was his loss to the Saints when he was with the Minnesota Vikings that really hurts. He was driving to win the game when he threw a pick with 12 seconds left in the game and the Vikings in field goal range. That ended up being his final playoff pass.
There were many more ups than downs to Favre's career, as his time on the field was all about moments. Favre was irrationally confident with the talent to back up his decision-making. He had a long career and was known as an iron man. He started 321 consecutive games (including the playoffs) before an injury in his final season finally took him off the field.
Obviously, the name Brett Favre isn't as well regarded as it once was. He's been in a multitude of controversies since his retirement, including a shocking welfare scandal in Mississippi. It's a stain on an otherwise beloved athlete who ruined his reputation after his career was done.
The last of the original greats, Otto Graham had an unprecedented run of success, taking the Cleveland Browns to championship games in every year of his 10-year career. He was a three-time NFL Champion, a four-time AAFC Champion (the league where the Browns were before the NFL), a three-time MVP, and a four-time All-Pro. For those scoring at home, Graham finished his career with seven championships, as many as Brady. He only needed 10 years to accomplish that.
The legendary Paul Brown offered Graham a ton of money (at least in 1946 terms) to join him in Cleveland. Brown saw Graham when he was the coach for Ohio State and Graham played for Northwestern. It was a match made in football heaven.
Graham and Brown created the modern T-formation quarterback position. This changed professional football. Their offense showed the QB could be the focal point, and the game never went back.
One of the strangest records Graham holds, or at least the most surprising, was his 44 rushing touchdowns from under center. That was the most by any quarterback ever for decades. Steve Young came up just short with 43. Cam Newton ended up blowing the record out of the water with 75. Graham was always moving the game forward, and in 10 years, he might have done more than anyone on this list.
Dan Marino is the biggest "what if" on this list. He might be the most talented player to ever stand behind an offensive line. Marino was blowing everyone out of the water in terms of stats and impressive plays. Many say his lack of playoff success hurts his legacy, and it probably does. He has all the stats, all the accolades, and he was regarded as one of the best during his career. Unfortunately, playoff success matters, even if the team around him did him no favors.
Marino broke almost every passing record during his career with the Miami Dolphins. He became the first player to ever throw for 5,000 yards in a season, doing it in 1984 when such a number wasn't even fathomable. It wouldn't fall until 2011 when Tom Brady and Drew Brees set the mark. While 5,000 yards doesn't seem as impressive now, it seemed like an impossible record to break back in the 80s.
Marino set six league records in 1984, including most touchdowns (destroying the record with 48 scoring passes). He would go on to what he thought would be his first of many Super Bowl performances, losing to the 49ers.
Unfortunately for Marino, that was his lone championship opportunity. He kept playing out of his mind, leading the league in passing four more times. Miami never again built him the proper team to compete for an actual title.
Johnny Unitas is the best quarterback from the early Super Bowl era, playing on one of the most dominant teams of the century in Baltimore. The story is a compelling one, as the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Unitas but cut him before he ever took a snap. He took a job in construction and played semi-pro football before Weeb Ewbank caught wind that an amazing prospect was wasting his talents playing for pennies. He offered him $17,000 to join the Colts, and the rest is history.
Unitas was a rarity for his time. He was a survivor on the field, playing for 17 seasons before hanging up his jersey. Four times he led the league in passing, and in three seasons he was voted the Most Valuable Player.
Of course, we remember Unitas for the moments. His comeback against the New York Giants in the "greatest game ever played" still lives on in the minds of those who were there to see it. His 1959 MVP seasons will go down as one of the most dominant for a QB ever when compared to his competition.
Unitas was everything a coach could want in a quarterback. He was humble, smart, quick-witted and he had talent that was unmatched at the position. He finished his career with more than 40,000 yards passing and 290 touchdowns. The numbers were eye-popping for the time period. His consistency will always be his best attribute, throwing for a touchdown pass in 47 straight games. It was a record that stood for 50 years.
We have finally arrived to the namesake of this article. The man who has the closest claim to be number one in due time. Patrick Mahomes is the fifth-best quarterback to ever play the game of football. Yes, he's only played 80 regular season games, but he's been so much better than any player we've ever seen at the position, he could retire today and be a top-five QB of all time. We've seen glimpses of this from Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, and others in their careers, but we've never seen a player take over a team and go bonkers like Mahomes has to start his career.
Mahomes is coming off his second Super Bowl Championship, providing an insane comeback against the stacked Philadelphia Eagles. The win put Mahomes into another sphere in terms of quarterback rankings. He and the Chiefs found themselves down by 10 at halftime, but they dominated the second half. Mahomes found a way to win with whoever was on the field with him.
This isn't anything new for Mahomes. We can talk about the incredible stats (5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in his first professional season, record-breaking 5,570 total yards in 2022), but his comebacks are the stuff of legend. He has 13 wins and only nine losses in games in which he trailed by more than 10 points in the regular season. He is the only QB with a winning record in such games, and it's four games over .500!
It doesn't matter who Mahomes is playing with. Travis Kelce could get injured. Tyreek Hill could get traded. Sammy Watkins can leave in free agency. It can be a revolving door of receivers, and Mahomes still dominates. He just won the Super Bowl with a starting WR core of Juju Smith-Schuster, Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. While Brady and Manning had years to build chemistry with guys, the Chiefs just throw anyone at Mahomes and ask him to make it work. And he does. This is someone who will be the best ever if he keeps on this trajectory. Heck, don't even talk about just football. He could beat out Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, and Lionel Messi for best athlete ever.
Truthfully, it was really hard to decipher who should go third and who should go fourth in the rankings. Numbers one and two seem pretty solidified (until Patrick Mahomes plays a few more seasons), but John Elway could very well have a hold on number three. He came out of Stanford as the best quarterback prospect ever, according to some scouts. He delivered on that hype.
Elway had a very similar career to Dan Marino, trying to carry teams of lesser talent to the promised land. He came up famously short on multiple occasions. It became a running joke how often Elway would come up short, leading his team to ridiculous comebacks only to just miss lifting the Lombardi Trophy.
Then, he finally won the big one. He was 37 years old. It looked like he might eventually ride off into the sunset with only his wedding ring on his finger. Then, he took the Broncos to Super Bowl XXXII against the Green Bay Packers, the defending champs at the time. Elway could have been toast as young gunner Brett Favre was in his way, but he would not be denied. The clutch king handed the ball off to Terrell Davis as the Broncos finally took home a title. The next year, Elway won another one, was named MVP, and he left the game of football at the top of the mountain.
Elway doesn't have the statistical profile of some of the other players on this list, but he knew what it took to win games. At the end of the day, that's what matters.
Peyton Manning is probably the best statistical quarterback in league history. He holds a league record five MVP awards and has just under 72,000 yards passing for his career with 539 touchdowns. He was a master of the pass, and he got better with age.
Manning was terrible during his rookie season, but he immediately turned it around in year two. He went from leading the league in interceptions with 28 to second in MVP voting in the span of a calendar year. The turnaround was insane, and Manning never looked back. He threw for at least 26 touchdowns in every active season of his career outside of his last one (and the season where he played zero games, obviously). He led the league in touchdowns four times, including a record-breaking 55 in 2013.
In the playoffs, things started off slow with Manning putting together more losses than wins. However, one game changed it all. After going down 21-3 to the dynasty New England Patriots, Manning put together a comeback for the ages, beating his biggest rival on the way to the Super Bowl. At that point, beating Rex Grossman was not at all difficult to take his first title as a starting quarterback.
Manning went on to win two titles with two franchises, becoming the first starting QB to do such a thing. Since then, Brady matched that feat because of course he did. Manning might go down as the most talented player at the position. He never looked like he needed to try very hard, but his ability to see the field, change the play, and know he could always make the throw allowed him to dominate on the field for his entire career.
Joe Montana had the crown as the best ever for a long time. He had the statistics like everyone else, but his ability to raise his game in the playoffs was unmatched in his time. Montana had 211 yards per game throughout his regular season career. He had 251 yards per game in the playoffs.
Montana started early, winning a Super Bowl in his first full season as starter. He won 13 games, threw for 3,565 yards and 19 touchdowns, and he went on to put together one of the most successful drives in NFL history. We've all seen the catch. The 49ers were home underdogs against the Dallas Cowboys, and they were down six with one drive remaining. On third down, Montana threw a very high pass to Dwight Clark, who went up and got it for the game-winning score. It was just the start for Montana, who went on to have plenty of memorable plays.
Just a few weeks later, Montana had the first of his three Super Bowl MVP awards. Montana won just about every award possible, both in the regular season and the playoffs. He finished his career with 40,000 passing yards and 273 touchdowns.
Weirdly, his most impressive playoff performance might have come with the Chiefs. He led two game-winning drives to show he was still one of the best in the league despite his advanced age. This included a 28-point second-half performance against the Houston Oilers. A concussion really put a damper on the AFC Championship Game, which was a loss to the Buffalo Bills. He eventually retired as an all-time great, and he is still the second-best ever despite how many great quarterbacks have come in the league since the turn of the millennium.
Until Patrick Mahomes can somehow hit the heights Tom Brady did and prove he can sustain it for two decades, this spot will be Brady's for the foreseeable future. There is the obvious that makes Tom Brady great. Everyone will point to the seven Super Bowl championships as the main reason why he's considered the best of all time. It's the same reason Michael Jordan gets the rub in basketball and Babe Ruth gets the same consideration in baseball. The player who lifts the most trophies at the end of the season will always be considered the top the sport ever saw.
It's so much more than that. The stats tell another story of Tom Brady's greatness. He had eras of his career. At the beginning of his career with the New England Patriots, he was the league's best game manager. Then, he was a statistical superstar that wasn't getting the championships to go with it. After that, he changed his game just enough to put his team over the top, going to a ridiculous amount of Super Bowls late in his career. Finally, he went to Tampa Bay and won one Super Bowl without Bill Belichick, the cherry on top of his immaculate career.
Brady led the league in touchdowns five times, yards four times, and interception percentage four times. He's the career leader in yards, touchdowns, completions, wins, playoff wins, Super Bowl wins, and fourth-quarter comebacks in the playoffs. He's the top guy, and there's not enough evidence to say anyone is even close.
It will take a lot for anyone to come close to Brady. Even if you take the four separate eras of his career, each one will end up on this list. He could be four different quarterbacks considered one of the top 30 of all time. Put it all together, and it's almost an untouchable phenom.
