Top Ten NFL Quarterbacks Ever

Thanks for checking out my top ten NFL quarterbacks of all time. As you may know I do lots of football articles and also love a good debate. So I figure to tick off some fans with my top ten NFL quarterbacks list and educate a few more. I did my top 5 quarterbacks in this article a few years ago. This current list is updated and was written in April of 2010 in case you find it down the road a few years. Please feel free to comment in the comments section below on how I did with my top ten pro quarterbacks of all time list.

First what makes a great NFL quarterback? Is it Super Bowl Rings? If that is the case then Trent Dilfer, Vince McMahon and Doug Williams are all better than Dan Marino. Is Terry Bradshaw one of the best quarterbacks ever or just on the right team at the right time? Something to think about with these modern quarterbacks is the relaxed rules in pass defense they face. Old school quarterbacks had less games and their receivers could be hit all the way down the field until the ball was in the air.

1 Joe Montana

Joe Montana is the best quarterback in NFL history, in my opinion. He has it all with Super Bowl wins, stats and having a fairly long career. But Joe Montana was also in the right place at the right time when he played for Bill Walsh and learned the West Coast Offense. Joe Montana's maneuverability, accuracy and intelligence made him perfect for the 49ers and the greatest quarterback of all time.

According to profootballreference.com Montana threw 5,391 passes and completed 3,409 of them in his 192 regular season games. He had 40,551 passing yards and 273 touchdown passes against only 139 interceptions thrown. He also added 1,676 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns

2 Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning ranks number two on my list of the best pro quarterbacks ever, despite only winning one Super Bowl so far. Manning is a machine and make his team so much better than it would be without him, that if he did have another ring or two I would rank Peyton Manning above Joe Montana.

According to Profootballreference.com Peyton Manning has thrown 6,531 passes and completed 4,232 of them for 50,128 NFL passing yards. Manning has also thrown 366 touchdown passes against only 181 interceptions.

3 Brett Favre

Brett Favre is a modern day warrior to be able to play a high level of NFL football at the age of 40. Only his diva retirements and unretirements, and a pain killer issue have marred a Hall of Fame career. Just short of 70,000 passing yards and 500 touchdown passes at the time of this writing, the argument can be made that Brett Favre is the best QB of all time. However he always did have the tendency to chunk the ball into a crowd and throw interceptions. According to the Brett Favre website, he has started 275 consecutive games (including playoffs) at quarterback which is just amazing.

4 Dan Marino

Ok I know Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl but he was still one of the best to ever play the position. Never having a running game or really great defense really hurt Dan Marino's stellar career. Dan Marino had the quickest release of any quarterback I have ever seen and made bad teams better. Marino also made my list of the top five rookie quarterbacks in NFL history, click here to read that one.

5 Johnny Unitas

Unitas probably wondered of he would even play in the NFL when the Pittsburgh Steelers released him. Luckily the Colts picked him up after a year of semi pro ball and the rest is history. Johnny Unitas was a clutch quarterback and possibly the toughest man to ever play the position.

Johnny Unitas threw for 40,239 yards and had 290 touchdown passes in a career that had 12 and 14 game seasons, compared to the modern day 16 game seasons. Unitas also played when defenses could actually play defense. They could hit wide receiver anywhere on the field until the ball was thrown and they could hit quarterbacks in those days as well. Johnny Unitas earned his spot in the top ten quarterbacks of all time.

6 John Elway

Elway and Manning are similar in my book due to lack of talent around them. For most of John Elway's career he was about all the Broncos had to offer. Elway was great at using his legs or his arm to help win games for his team. It should be noted however that it took the arrival of Terrell Davis for Elway to win his rings.

7 Tom Brady

Many of you are freaking out at such a low ranking for Tom Brady. Well I think Coach Bill Belichick had much to do with Tom Brady's career flourishing. I also must point out neither Brady or Belichick have won a Super Bowl since the Spygate incident showed they were cheating.

What does earn Tom Brady a top ten quarterback of all time ranking is his accuracy and determination to be the best. At the time of this writing Brady has over 30,000 yards passing 225 touchdown passes and only 99 interceptions. Not bad for a 6^th round pick which puts Brady on my biggest draft steals of all time list.

8 Fran Tarkington

Tarkington put up huge stats with the Vikings and Giants, in part due to a long career. But Fran Tarkington owns a spot on the top ten quarterbacks of all time list due to his style as well as skill. Tarkington and Roger Staubach were really the first scrambling quarterbacks who paved the way for Randall Cunningham, Michael Vick and Steve Young to be given chances. Fran Tarkington ran for over 3,500 yards and passed for 47,003 yards and had 342 touchdown passes.

9 Steve Young

Just think about how great those 49er teams were to replace Joe Montana with another Hall of Fame quarterback in Steve Young. Young is the best left handed quarterback to ever play the game, and was a great runner as well as an accurate passer.

10 Warren Moon

Warren Moon had to prove himself in the Canadian Football League before getting a chance in the NFL, because he was an African American Quarterback. Once he got that chance he lit up defenses like few have done before. Warren Moon threw for over 40,000 yards and almost 300 touchdown passes in his NFL career.

Sources

Profootballreference.com

Kofi Bofah's AC article on the top ten quarterbacks of all time.