Our Top 30 NFL QBs of the Super Bowl era
We were asked to participate in an ambitious project. Here's the Go Long entry. Let's get your list.
Greetings! It’s List Season in the NFL and we’ve typically loathed List Season.
Until today.
This offseason, I was asked by Jarrett Bailey of SB Nation to partake in a 13-person panel ranking the greatest quarterbacks of all-time. Bailey tallied the lists and is now rolling out the composite results.
OK, I’ll admit: This was a lot of fun.
Bailey’s only criteria was to stick to the Super Bowl era. That is, 1966 and on. This makes it tough to slot in analog legends such as Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr who accomplished so much before ‘66, hence their lower ranking. We were asked to follow any compass we desired. Super Bowl wins. Stats. Innovation. Athletic prowess. Whatever you liked.
Personally? I valued quarterbacks who were transcendent. The guys who served as an electroshock to the position and sport itself. When the game’s on, you recognize true greatness. What you’re seeing is simply different. It’s a gut feeling. It’s all subjective. And I’m the first to admit my bias as a kid who grew up on a full diet of 90s Football. Over the years, I’ve tried my best to research and watch as much football as I can from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Would like to think that writing “Blood and Guts” and reading Michael MacCambridge’s epic “America’s Game” helped.
As we enter the dog days of summer and chip away at longer stories at Go Long, let’s discuss and debate.
Here’s my top 30 below…
1. Tom Brady. The rings. The killer instinct. The animalistic desire to win, and win, and win and defy Father Time. Brady sits atop the throne by every conceivable metric. Leave the door open juuust a sliver and he was destined to cut your throat out. We remember the title triumphs but it’s the crushing Super Bowl defeats that stick with me. Brady’s mental fortitude to reclimb the championship mountain throughout his two decades is unparalleled. (And Brady never, ever forgot he went 199th overall.)
2. Patrick Mahomes. Our last memory is ugly. But despite the Superdome beating, Mahomes’ postseason numbers remain absurd: 5,814 yards with 46 touchdowns, only 10 picks and another 606 yards and seven scores on the ground with a 17-4 record and three Super Bowl MVPs. From Start No. 1 in KC, Mahomes forced everyone to change the way they think about the position by inventing his own interpretation… with a Brady-like competitive fire.
3. Joe Montana. Redefined offensive football itself in Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense and — most importantly? — “Joe Cool” redefined what it means to be clutch in the most pressure-packed moments. Stone-cold killer when everything’s on the line.
4. Dan Marino. Lightyears ahead of his time, Marino possessed both a cannon right arm and the quickest release ever. Good chance he’d throw for 6,000 yards in today’s game. Aesthetically — from snap to drop to throw — it doesn’t get any better than this. No championships may ding his legacy in the eyes of some readers. Not here.
5. Brett Favre. Strongest arm in NFL history. Revived an NFL franchise at risk of fading into obscurity. Worshipped by teammates. Best of all? Favre is the embodiment of grit. We love football because its participants are modern-day gladiators. Injury risk is 100 percent. No quarterback will ever touch Favre’s streak of 321 consecutive starts — and Favre did it in an era where defenders maimed QBs.
6. Peyton Manning. Throttled the quarterback position to an unprecedented gear with his manic twist on the no-huddle offense. Insanely detailed. Play to play, the Colts QB meticulously processed defenses like no man before him in winning five MVPs. Good chance we never see a 37-year-old quarterback eviscerate defenses like Manning did in 2013 with Denver, too. Brought a winner to a basketball-craved state.
7. John Elway. Forty-six game-winning drives, many of which are iconic, indelible memories for an entire generation. Blended a rocket arm with ballsy scrambling ability. Broke the hearts of opponents repeatedly (sorry, Browns fans) and went out on top.
8. Drew Brees. Perfect quarterback at the perfect time for the city of New Orleans. Proved a shorter quarterback can not only excel from the pocket, but dominate. Led the NFL in passing seven times — once at age 27, once at age 37. Ultimate leader, ultimate teammate, zapped life into a franchise that’s only known losing and a city besieged by Hurricane Katrina.
9. Steve Young. Didn’t get his shot until age 31 (!) and a historic three-year stretch from ‘92 to ‘93 to ‘94… all in the shadow of Joe Montana. Masterfully operated Walsh’s offense at 6 feet tall. Sacrificed his body without hesitation. Upon retirement, his 96.8 passer rating was the best of all-time. A complete quarterback in every sense.
10. Aaron Rodgers. If stats are your thing, Rodgers is your quarterback. Numerical juggernaut who collected four MVP. Rodgers’ ability to value the ball — while still knifing passes into tight windows — was special at his peak. Yeah, he often trashed the play call that Mike McCarthy sent in. But Rodgers usually made his coach right.
11. Roger Staubach. Like Young, a late bloomer. NFL career delayed until age 29 due to his Navy commitment. But when Staubach got his shot, all he did was go 13-0 and win a Super Bowl. Ability to evade the rush, keep his eyes downfield, pull the trigger is now the modern-day standard.
12. Dan Fouts. Piloting the revolutionary “Air Coryell” scheme, Fouts steered the position to supernatural heights. It was now possible to spread defenses out with four or five receivers. Those San Diego Chargers teams became the framework for the 90s Cowboys and Greatest Show of Turf Rams years later. Don Coryell needed a smart, demanding quarterback to execute those X’s and O’s, too. Always worth rewatching the “Epic in Miami.”
13. Fran Tarkenton. Whirling dervish wizard in the open field. Tarkenton stands the test of time as one of the most breathtaking players in NFL history. Retired as the league’s all-time passing leader and held that title for 17 years.
14. Terry Bradshaw. Talent-rich Steelers teams of the 70s needed this quarterback with the 1-of-1 personality. Big arm. Tough. Bradshaw was easy for the Pittsburgh locals to love.
15. Josh Allen. There is no comp because no quarterback in NFL history remotely resembles the force of nature cannon-blasting through defenses in Western New York. You’d need to go full Dr. Frankenstein, piecing together Ben Roethlisberger’s size, Brett Favre’s right arm with an A-level mix of brains and elusiveness and athleticism. But the greatest trait Allen possesses is an abundance of fearlessness. The kid that no D-I school would touch out of high school willed himself into the position to resurrect one of the league’s saddest teams. Now? He’s the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reason these Buffalo Bills are in perennial title contention. Teammates en masse would run through the nearest cement wall for Allen. When it’s all said and done — if he can hoist a Lombardi or two — we may all discuss Allen with the very best who’ve ever played the position.
16. Ben Roethlisberger. Virtually impossible to wrangle to the turf. No play was ever dead. Winning 178 games, including two Super Bowls, in the era of Brady & Manning is a remarkable achievement. Big Ben’s cavalier, backyard style of play kept the Steelers alive in any game and his SB-winning drive (and pinpoint winning throw) vs. the Arizona Cardinals will be legendary for all of our lifetimes.
17. Kurt Warner. From stocking groceries at Hy-Vee in Cedar Falls, Iowa to scoring 529 points for the 1999 St. Louis Rams, Warner represents the most inspiring story at the position. One that made its way to the big screen. We can rave on and on about his quick release, his brain, etc. But he’ll always be remembered for his inner-belief. Even with his late arrival (age 28) and five lost seasons in-between Rams and Cardinals stints, Warner’s greatness stood out.
18. Jim Kelly. At a breakneck pace, the Bills of the early 1990s changed the sport. And the man shattering the norms was Kelly. He had the mind to decipher defenses in a matter of a few fragile seconds at the line of scrimmage with the arm to knife spirals through the lake-effect chill. He went 48-13 as the starter through four straight runs to the Super Bowl. While his resume lacks a defining moment, Kelly furthered the evolution of the sport with his K-Gun, no-huddle offense. The man who wanted nothing to do with the city of Buffalo soon helped define what it means to be from Buffalo itself.
19. Johnny Unitas. Greatest accomplishments preceded this exercise’s 1966 cutoff, but Unitas still managed to win NFL MVP in ‘67 and a Super Bowl in ‘70. He’s the one most responsible for elevating offensive football out of the Stone Age.
20. Bart Starr. Won MVP in ‘66. The “Lombardi Sweep” is borderline mythologized at this point — and for good reason — but it sells Starr’s arm short. He made defenses pay deep. He rose up in the biggest moments. While we all remember his famed QB sneak in the Ice Bowl, Starr’s best game ever came in ‘66 when he tore up Tom Landry’s Cowboys for 304 yards and four touchdowns in the NFL Championship. Before Mahomes, Starr owned the highest postseason passer rating (104.8). Back in 2013, we sat down to discuss his legacy.
21. Len Dawson. Quintessential AFL Quarterback. Led the league in completion percentage eight times, TDs four times. Excelled into his late 30s long before it was normal.
22. Warren Moon. Threw one of the most gorgeous deep balls. Undrafted out of Washington, forced to play in the CFL five seasons, Moon finally got his NFL shot and blazed the trail for all African-American quarterbacks we watch today. (Moon hung out with Go Long here to discuss, icymi.)
23. Ken Stabler. Pure Raider to the bone. A rebel without a cause. Partied hard, played harder, central to moments that’ll forever live in NFL lore: Holy Roller, The Sea of Hands, Ghost to the Post. And did “The Snake” really plant cocaine on a reporter he hated?
24. Joe Namath. Broadway Joe is a titan in sports history, beyond the numbers. Ushered in a level of charisma the sport had never seen before. All athletes in all sports making millions on and off the field today have Namath to thank. Athletes are celebrities because of him. Now, if only a quarterback today had the gonads to guarantee a Super Bowl win poolside.
25. Ken Anderson. Led NFL in passing in ‘74 and ‘75. Won MVP in ‘81. Completed 70.6 percent of his passes in ’82 — which equates to roughly 80 to 85 percent today. Ran Walsh’s offense before Montana. Here’s thinking Anderson warrants a bust in Canton.
26. Philip Rivers. Funky throwing motion. Wobbling, awkward on the run. A quarterback created in a lab, this was not. But, man, Rivers was exceptionally efficient. I probably have Rivers too low on this list considering he led the NFL in yards per attempt in ‘08 (8.4), ‘09 (8.8), ‘10 (8.7), eclipsed 4,000 yards 12 times and did it all without the wide receiver talent of the others. Oh, he played through a torn ACL in an AFC Championship Game, too.
27. Matthew Stafford. Those 12 seasons in Detroit were peculiar. On one hand, Stafford was gifted the physical wonder that is Calvin Johnson. On the other, he was quarterbacking an organization mired in decades-long despair. Both sides moved on and were better for it. In LA, Stafford has a chance to inch his way into Hall of Fame consideration.
28. Troy Aikman. Imagine this is where I’ll get some grief. Aikman won several big games. Fair or not, I’m docking Aikman for being more cog in a Cowboys machine than an elite transformer at the quarterback position.
29. Lamar Jackson. Several smart general managers did not view Jackson as a successful NFL quarterback. Unfathomable in retrospect. Jackson was a human joystick at Louisville. He’s still scripting his legacy but the Ravens quarterback is Grade-A proof that a select few individual talents should force you to completely reshape the way you view the position. Cam Newton was a monster for one season. Mike Vick was electric in spurts. Jackson has managed to stack elite seasons together.
30. Randall Cunningham. The 11-year-old Packer fan in me is still haunted by Cunningham bombing away in a Lambeau Field monsoon on Monday Night Football. What a shame that football fans were robbed of a Broncos-Vikings Super Bowl in 1998. Earlier in the decade, Cunningham finished second in the MVP voting twice with the Eagles. Paired unmatched escapability with the long ball.
OK, friends.
Fire away with your thoughts, your own list, any and all takes in the comments and inside the Substack app.
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Allen feels a touch high, and Jackson a touch low. Pretty good list otherwise
Like the list but agree with others that Lamar is too low. Of all the recently retired, past their prime QBs, definitely miss Rivers the most. He’s in his own category of fun.