If you were to ask 10 football fans who the greatest quarterback in NFL history is, they’d each probably give you a different answer. The question itself is undoubtedly one that sparks debate so we are going to take the time to go over the top 10 quarterbacks in NFL history. This will be our take over this epic question.
10. Peyton Manning
Although Peyton Manning is easily considered one of the top three quarterbacks playing today, he is still a little far behind the others on this list. But this doesn’t mean that he hasn’t accomplished many great things in his career as quarterback. He has led his team to an impressive 12 winning seasons and has thrown for more than 4,000 years in a record setting amount of times. He has the second highest throwing efficiency of all time and is well known for his pre-snap abilities during play.
9. Tom Brady
Tom Brady is an impressive and very smart quarterback by most people’s standards. He has three Super Bowl championships under his belt and he managed to do this before his 26th birthday. He was the super bowl MVP on multiple occasions and holds the record for most consecutive playoff game wins at 10. He holds the record for completing the most passes during a Super Bowl and he is also known for recording 100 completed passes in only four games. He is a dangerous quarterback and one of the greats.
8. Bart Starr
Bart Starr was a very accurate clutch quarterback who could always get the job done. During his career, he managed to lead his team to two Super bowls and he held the NFL player passing rating five times. The only other quarterback to do better was legendary Steve Young. When you think about Bart Starr as a quarterback, you’ll immediately think about his dangerous passing game and being one of the best passers in the history of the NFL.
7. Steve Young
Steve Young is one of the best as well as most underrated NFL quarterbacks of all time. The reason why is because he spent a lot of his time in the shadow of Joe Montana, another legendary quarterback. He holds several passing records and one of the more popular ones was when he passed for over 100 (in the passer rating scale) in four straight seasons. Throughout the course of his career, he managed to rush for a whopping 43 touchdowns which is unheard of, especially from a quarterback who isn’t known for his speed and agility. He could be considered the most accurate QB in history.
6. Otto Graham
When you think about the top QB’s in the game, you would be crazy not to include Otto Graham on the list. Otto was an amazing leader who led his team to six championship games throughout the course of his career. He won four straight AAFC championships before that. Out of those ten championship games, he won a remarkable seven of them. He was very consistent as a QB and had an uncanny ability to lead people when they were down. His name will be immortalized forever in the game of football.
5. John Elway
John Elway played in 234 games throughout the course of his career and threw for about 50,000 yards. He had 300 touchdowns 226 interceptions (passing), and rushed for 407 yards and 33 touchdowns. He won two Super Bowls throughout his career and had appeared in several others with other teams. The reason he made it to number five on this list is because he always kept his cool in clutch performances and had a knack for winning late in games when his team was down.
4. Johnny Unitas
He had a “Golden Arm” as most people would say and it was responsible for allowing him to throw for a touchdown in 47 consecutive games. He had a staggering 10 Pro-Bowl appearances, something that has only been matched by Brett Favre. In 1959, he threw for 32 touchdowns. During his time as QB, he accomplished a lot and was an amazing leader on and off the field.
3. Dan Marino
He is arguably the best QB to ever play the game. If you were to take a look at his stats, you probably wouldn’t be able to believe what you were seeing. He threw for 61,000 yards throughout his career, threw 420 touchdown passes and had the lowest percentage of passes intercepted by any QB to play the game. All things considered, he never won a Super Bowl ring, which is probably the only factor is preventing him from taking the number one spot on this list.
2. Terry Bradshaw
He was the number two overall pick and a lot of people say that it was the best move that the Steelers ever made. Terry was a monster on the field. He was feared by defenses and had tremendous skill. While he may not have been as technically sound as other QBs on this list, he definitely ranks high on the “ring” chart. He is one of only two quarterbacks to win four Super Bowl rings throughout the course of his career.
1. Joe Montana
It is only right that Joe Montana wins the number one spot on this list. Not only is he the greatest QB to ever play the game, but he is probably the best player to ever play it. He won four Super Bowl rings in his career and threw for a massive 40,000 yards with a career passer rating of 92.3. These stats should speak for themselves and knowing this, most people would agree that he is the best to ever play the game.