Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff recently sparked a debate amongst NFL fans after he revealed his list of the greatest quarterbacks ever.

While promoting Season 2 of Netflix’s Quarterback series, Goff named his top signal-callers of all time, but in no particular order. However, his list did not include current stars such as Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. His top 10 were Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, John Elway, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre and the only current player in the list, Aaron Rodgers. 

While all the players mentioned are greats of the game, how were they as players?

Tom Brady

There was no shock when Goff mentioned Brady in his list when talking to Netflix. He’s captured seven Super Bowl titles, won five Super Bowl MVP awards, and retired as the league’s all-time leader in passing yards with 89,214 and passing touchdowns with 649.

He is also the only player to win the Super Bowl MVP for two different franchises, the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also has the record for most seasons played by a quarterback with 23.

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning has won five MVPs in his career, the most of any player in NFL history. He currently ranks third for passing yards with 71,490 and third for passing touchdowns as well with 539.

Peyton has also won the Super Bowl with two different franchises, the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos. He also has the record for most single-season passing touchdowns with 55 in 2013 as well as the single-season passing yards record with 5,477 in the same year.

Joe Montana

Considered the greatest quarterback before the emergence of Tom Brady, Joe Montana’s stats might seem much smaller, as he ranks 24th for passing yards with 40,551 and 20th for passing touchdowns with 273. However, he used to play in an era with less passing and had quite a few major injuries.

He also possesses the best passer rating in Super Bowl games with 127.8 and has never thrown an interception during a Super Bowl game.

John Elway

John Elway ranks 12th for passing yards with 51,475 and 14th for passing touchdowns with 300.

He was only the second quarterback in NFL history to surpass 40,000 passing yards and 3,000 yards in NFL. The Denver Broncos legend also led the Broncos to the Super Bowl game five times and ended up winning it twice.

Drew Brees

Drew Brees was known as an undersized quarterback, but it didn’t stop him from being one of the greatest quarterbacks in history. Brees ranks second for passing yards with 80,358 and second for passing touchdowns as well with 571. 

Brees also has the record for the highest pass completion percentage in a season with 74.4% in 2018 and the most seasons with over 5,000+ passing yards with five. However, he is also considered the best player to never win an MVP award and also has only won the Super Bowl once.

Philip Rivers

Unlike many others in this list, Rivers has never won a Super Bowl, but his production speaks volumes to his talent. He ranks eighth for passing yards with 63,984 yards and sixth for passing touchdowns with 425 touchdowns.

Rivers led the league in passing yards in 2010 with 4,710 yards, and his best-ever season in terms of pass completion percentage was in 2013 with 69.5%.

Eli Manning

Eli Manning was one of the best players when it came to the postseason. He finished his career ranking 11th in passing yards with 57,023 yards and ranks the same for passing touchdowns with 366 touchdowns in his career.

However, Eli is most notable for having a perfect 2-0 record against Tom Brady in Super Bowl games after wins in 2008 and 2012 with the New York Giants. According to Giants.com, he also holds the NFL record for most fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a single year with 15 in 2011.

Ben Roethlisberger

Roethlisberger has been an underrated quarterback for much of his career and still has a very good resume. He ranks 7th for passing yards with 64,088 and 9th for passing touchdowns with 418.

He holds the NFL record for the most 500-yard passing games in a career and was also the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl at 23 years and 340 days old in 2006.

Brett Favre

Brett Favre is 4th in passing yards with 71,838 yards and 5th for passing touchdowns with 508.

Favre holds the record for consecutive starts by a quarterback in NFL history with 321 games, including postseason, earning him the nickname “Iron Man”. He has also won three consecutive MVP awards from 1995 to 1997 and has gone to the Super Bowl twice, winning once in 1997.

Aaron Rodgers

The only active quarterback who is on Goff’s list, Aaron Rodgers has won four MVPs, the second-most in NFL history. He currently ranks fifth for passing yards with 66,274 and fourth for passing touchdowns with 527.

Rodgers has the most consecutive passes without an interception with 402 and the highest career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 4.28. However, unlike the others mentioned above him, Rodgers has only won the Super Bowl once.

Who would be on your list of top 10 quarterbacks of all time? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Dhruv Vishnu Nair

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar