Top 10 Best NFL Quarterbacks of All Time

Johnny Unitas forged the modern quarterback template with a 47-game touchdown streak from 1956 to 1960, a record that stood for over 50 years. He threw for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns, leading the Colts to three NFL championships during an era of physical defenses.

Patrick Mahomes has the strongest early-career résumé in NFL history: three Super Bowl titles and two MVPs before turning 30, a feat no other quarterback on this list—including Joe Montana—has matched. His no-look, sidearm, off-platform style revolutionized the position, and his 2022 season (5,250 passing yards) ranks as the third-highest single-season total ever. At just 29, he already holds a 0.74 playoff win percentage, the best among active quarterbacks with 10+ starts.

Despite never winning a Super Bowl, his 1995 playoff performance (421 yards, 4 TDs) against the Bills remains one of the greatest single-game displays by a ringless quarterback.

John Elway engineered the most iconic drive in NFL history—'The Drive,' a 98-yard march in the 1986 AFC Championship—and capped his career with back-to-back Super Bowl wins at age 37 and 38, older than any quarterback before him achieved that feat. His five Super Bowl appearances tie Patrick Mahomes for the most by a quarterback before turning 40.

Brett Favre’s ironman streak of 297 consecutive starts stands 104 games longer than the next-closest quarterback on this list, John Elway (193), and his three consecutive MVP awards (1995–1997) make him the only player to win the award in three straight seasons since the NFL merger. He threw 508 touchdowns in his career—a record that stood for 15 years—and his 72.2% completion rate in 2009 at age 40 outperformed the average quarterback age 40+ by 10 percentage points.

His four MVP awards, tied for second-most all-time, underscore a statistical dominance that includes a league-best 66.5% completion rate over 18 seasons. Yet his lone Super Bowl ring, compared to Brees's one and the multiple titles of higher-ranked peers, reveals a glaring gap between peak personal performance and team success. Rodgers's 2011 championship season saw him throw 45 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions, a 7.5:1 ratio that remains the best in a single campaign for any quarterback on this list.

Drew Brees held virtually every major passing record before Tom Brady surpassed him, finishing his career with 80,358 passing yards and 571 touchdowns, both second all-time behind Brady. His 67.7% career completion rate is the highest in NFL history among quarterbacks with 5,000+ attempts, a full 1.2 percentage points higher than Aaron Rodgers's 66.5%. Brees led the New Orleans Saints to their only Super Bowl title in 2009, throwing for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns in the game, while revitalizing the city after Hurricane Katrina. However, his pedestrian 1.7% interception rate, while better than many, trails Rodgers's 1.4%, a gap that costs him a higher rank.