1, he now falls to No. Unitas was the winning quarterback in the so-called "Greatest Game Ever Played," the 1958 NFL championship against the New York Giants, quarterbacked a successful title defense in 1959, then defeated the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V. Most of Unitas's records have now been broken with the advent of rule changes that favor offensive production, but Unitas pioneered such mainstays as the so-called "two-minute drill" that are still used today. He would go on to spend the entirety of his 11-year Hall of Fame career with the Cowboys, becoming one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history. Thanks for reading! He also is a six-time All-Pro selection and was invited to nine Pro Bowls. A two-time pro-bowl player, he won a championship in 1956. Luckman's bio is pretty hilarious; despite the fact that he was given the chance to play professional football, he originally planned to decline the opportunity and work at a relative's TRUCKING COMPANY. By 21st-century standards, Len Dawsons stats from the Pro Football Hall of Fame dont jump out at you, but hes one of the all-time greats to step on the field. Regardless, Young will still go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. Not bad. Could Orton be on the presidential ticket one day? The former Los Angeles Chargers quarterback would light up the scoreboard one week, and completely fall apart the next. Nowadays, Garrard remains a staple in the Northern Florida community. Plummer's best season was probably in 2005, when he broke a few significant franchise passing records set by the great John Elway; however, Plummer always displayed a tendency to throw interceptions in bunches, which led to the Broncos' decision to draft his eventual successor, Cutler, in the first round. After several good seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, he has played for several NFL teams: Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and Oakland. Van Brocklin was a two-time NFL champion, once with each franchise, and is the holder of the NFL's single-game passing yardage record (554 yards). While Brady might not play for the Buccaneers next season, he's set to count just over $35 million against the cap for Tampa Bay in 2023. In a time when the forward pass was still an afterthought for most NFL quarterbacks, Baugh was more than happy to go to the air, leading the NFL in passing six times. But it's just too early- try me again in five years. When the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV, he quarterbacked that team instead of an injured Trent Green. That pass to Santonio Holmes closed out one of the better Super Bowls in recent memory in Pittsburgh's favor. He'd do a lot of modern quarterbacks shame without any kind of adjustment for the new rules that favor offense. Just look at the TD/INT differential and QB rating and compare it to other QBs of the era. If this is the end for Tom Brady, hes a shoo-in for the history books and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2027. On top of that, the guy was forced to demonstrate remarkable mental fortitude- remember, he was the guy who had to replace BRETT FAVRE in Green Bay. Pro Football Network, LLC. Morrall started for injured Dolphins QB Bob Griese during the 1972 season for the Miami Dolphins and was part of the league's only undefeated team in history, though he was benched in favor of Griese during the team's playoff run. When he became a member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins the only team to ever go undefeated from start to finish over a regular season and an entire playoff in NFL history quarterback Earl Morrall had already been a professional football player for 17 seasons. 7 spot. Here are the oldest NFL quarterbacks, both current and retired, who played into their 40s. Manning finished the game 13 of 23 for 141 yards with one interception. Elway has a fantastic game as well. What is even more amazing is both QBs played for the same franchise when it happened. Tarkenton is rightly remembered as a great scrambler, but sometimes people forget exactly how good he was as a passer. Montana was no slouch during the regular season either, earning NFL MVP honors in both 1989 and '90. No Twitter update. He simply won't go away. After finishing his career at Auburn University, Campbell was drafted in the first round by the Washington Redskins in 2005. Unitas is without question a top-three or top-five quarterback in NFL history, and there is a strong case for him to be as high as he is here. Flutie might be the best player in the history of the Canadian Football League, and I'd love to rank him higher because this guy is the man. He played in four Super Bowls, winning twice (XLI and 50), and was named MVP in leading the Colts to victory over the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. If you are looking for an offense that could score at will, this could be it. The oldest NFL quarterbacks of all time put most athletes to shame by playing into their 40s. 1 overall draft pick in the 1989 NFL Draft following an outstanding collegiate career that began at Oklahoma and concluded at UCLA. If you put up Anderson's numbers against many QBs who are in the Hall, Anderson compares favorably. Warner took home NFL MVP honors in 1999, 2001 and '08. George played for seven teams in a 14-year career. Of the top two, Aikman is the first to appear. Playing from 1994 until 2007, Mark Brunell originally got his start with the Green Bay Packers, being takenin the fifth round of the 1993 draft, according to Pro Football Reference. For a long time, it was Joe Montana and then everybody else in the greatest quarterback of all time conversation. I guess that's what happens when you're followed by the likes of Steve Young and some guy named Joe Montana. Fouts was surrounded by players like Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner, John Jefferson, and Wes Chandler, so there was no shortage of targets. He also played a significant role in leading Americas Team to three Super Bowls (XXVII, XXVIII and XXX), winning all three. It wasn't going to be easy for the next quarterback in line to continue the "Greatest Show on Turf" once the stars left the Rams. In what was a surprising turn of events in the 2007 NFL Draft, Brady Quinn fell all the way to the Cleveland Browns at the #22 pick overall. A three-time NFL MVP (2007, '10, '17), Brady also has earned five All-Pro selections and 15 Pro Bowl invitations. The defending Super Bowl champion Broncos entered the game with an AFC-best 142 regular season record. Manning won the AFC West all four years he was in Denver, helping the Broncos reach two Super Bowls. He was a REALLY GOOD game manager who also happened to win an NFL MVP. He also stated that due to his age (38), he was getting injured more often than ever before. After starting only 2 games in his first 5 NFL seasons, Delhomme joined the Carolina Panthers and immediately took over the starting job. He hasn't really been the same since the middle of the decade, when he had several good years. Imagine what could have happened if Moon, who retired at 44, was able to spend those seasons in the NFL. I'm not averse to putting "young guns" on the list, but I won't jump Joe Flacco to No. October 14, 2021. Krieg ranks very highly in many career passing categories, but his teams rarely went deep into the playoffs, and indeed his postseason statistics are generally worse than those in the regular season. The fact that his career has gone continually downhill since the early 2000s has made some people forget the few seasons where Culpepper was among the best passers in the NFL. Elway's long and distinguished career is undeniably deserving of a top five spot; however, some would rank him even higher than where he is here. Simple: because he's Brett Favre. He has followed the footsteps of his father by breeding and racing horses, which can be extremely lucrative if done properly. A classic "one-hit wonder," Steve Beuerlein was one of the league's best players in 1999, when he led the NFL with over 4,400 passing yards, setting many single-season franchise records with the Carolina Panthers. Some people feel that record is living on borrowed time, and yet, even the most prolific passers like Dan Marino and Peyton Manning have yet to take it down. The Kurt Warner story is one of those "feel good" moments when a guy who isn't supposed to be that good turns out to be even better than the starter. The Jacksonville Jaguarswere a solid playoff team in 2017, but the last time the Jacksonville Jaguars were a contender before that was back when David Garrard was at the helm. Meredith played for nine seasons under Tom Landry. It was a different time- there weren't as many teams in the NFL as there are today, and there wasn't the same kind of parity. Clausen ultimately lost his first flag football game, but he was playing against Michael Vick (seriously, who could ever beat Vick in flag football?). When you watch highlight films from the 1970s, you see a lot of Terry Bradshaw. It was his first losing season in the NFL, and he averaged a career-worst 9.6 yards per completion. Leinart was also recently selected into the 2017 College Football Hall-of-Fame. He also holds several distinguished NFL records, and was a six-time Pro Bowler. . Love him or hate him, Tom Brady is one of the all-time greats in the history of the NFL and professional football. Here's what we know as to whether Brady will retire after this season. Baugh played three ways, offense, defense, and punter, leading the Washington Redskins to two NFL titles (1937 and 1942). Warner is one of the better rated postseason passers of all time, though he only won the single Super Bowl ring. A two-time Super Bowl champion (XL, XLIII), he's the youngest starting quarterback to win a Lombardi Trophy (age 23). The Green Bay Packers drafted the Boston College product in 1999. That might or might not be a fair assessment; however, the fact remains that Aikman didn't produce at such a high level in terms of his individual statistics as did other players of his era. MORE:Brady to Dolphins? He currently plays in the UFL, though I'd bet he's still better than most backup quarterbacks in the NFL. After reversing his retirement decision last year, Tom Brady might be considering it for real this time after the Bucs were dumped from the NFL playoffs. Namath also is well documented for his flamboyant Playboy lifestyle off of the gridiron. Allegedly, that is what Joe Montana said as he stepped onto the field in Super Bowl XXIII before the famous "Montana drive" that culminated with a Joe Montana touchdown pass to receiver John Taylor when the 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals. Brian Hoyer signed a one-year deal with the Bears in 2016 to backup starter Jay Cutler. However, the fact of the matter is if Roethlisberger retired RIGHT THIS SECOND he is already ahead of most QBs in league history. The Indianapolis Colts have the longest streak in NFL history for consecutive 12-win seasons, and the biggest reason for that has been the play of Manning. His Hall of Fame NFL career spanned 11 seasons, tallying a stellar 101-59 record with a career completion percentage of better than 60 percent. Ferguson wore the No. Dallas always seemed to be behind late in the game and Staubach always seemed to come through to win at the last possible moment. The fastest quarterback to reach the 60,000- and 70,000-yard milestones, he's fourth all-time in career regular-season wins (172). Brees's QB rating during the Saints' Super season a whopping 109.6. A perfect score then is 100 points, and the lowest possible is 12. Even so, the guy still had to make all the plays, and he was the constant in the great 49ers dynasty. hence, a higher spot than some suggest that his statistics deserve. The two rings did, however, jump him ahead of Roger Staubach. Even so, when you crunch the numbers, McNabb definitely deserves this spot, and if nothing else, the guy has a lot of talent and has made many, many postseason appearances with a pretty average group of guys around him barring Westbrook and Brian Dawkins. And it appears that Brady's not quite done, as after being "retired" for less than 45 days, he announced that he would be returning to Tampa Bay for his third season with the Buccaneers and 23rd overall. However, despite the gaudy offensive numbers, Fouts's teams never appeared in a Super Bowl, though they did get to the AFC title game in 1980 and 1981. Brees has thrown for 4,300 yards in four consecutive seasons, and is on pace to exceed that number yet again this year. Charley Johnson played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers and Denver Broncos during his 15-year NFL career, and he's a member of the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame. It is also difficult to argue that Drew Brees wasn't the best QB in the leaguelast year. After a 12-4 regular season, the Broncos matched up with Cam Newton and the red-hot Carolina Panthers. He was ahead of his time and is often credited with revolutionizing the quarterback position. 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