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Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Rank 071Up 1
#7 in Greatest NFL Quarterbacks
of 16 ranked entries
Drew Brees
Chargers, Saints · 2001–2020
Retired as the all-time leader in career passing yards, built almost entirely on a level of ball placement that made a mediocre Saints receiving corps look far better than it was for over a decade. Recorded specifics: primary team New Orleans Saints, debut 2001, super bowls won 1. Panel highlighted held the all-time career passing yardage record at retirement, super Bowl XLIV champion and MVP and one of the highest career completion percentages in league history. The reservation on record is only one deep playoff run despite a remarkably consistent regular-season résumé.
Super Bowl championRecord-setter
Score breakdown
How Drew Brees earned 87.7
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Greatest NFL Quarterbacks.
- Championship pedigreeweight 28%
- 90.1
- Statistical dominance relative to eraweight 27%
- 85.1
- Clutch & big-game performanceweight 25%
- 87.2
- Durability & consistencyweight 20%
- 88.6
On the record
Recorded detail
| Primary team | New Orleans Saints |
|---|---|
| Debut | 2001 |
| Super Bowls won | 1 |
| Rating | 8.7 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- Held the all-time career passing yardage record at retirement
- Super Bowl XLIV champion and MVP
- One of the highest career completion percentages in league history
Where it gives ground
- Only one deep playoff run despite a remarkably consistent regular-season résumé
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
From the same list
Ranked alongside it
Rank 01Editor’s pickTom Brady
Quarterback · Patriots, Buccaneers · 2000–2022
Seven Super Bowl rings — more than any single franchise other than the Patriots has won — spread across two decades and two teams, retiring with the career passing yardage and touchdown records still standing untouched.
97.6/100 Top 49 score3Up 3
Rank 02Editor’s pickPeyton Manning
Quarterback · Colts, Broncos · 1998–2015
Five NFL MVPs, the most any player has won, built on a pre-snap command of opposing defenses that occasionally looked like the defense was running his script instead of its own.
95.5/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
Rank 03Editor’s pickJoe Montana
Quarterback · 49ers, Chiefs · 1979–1994
Four Super Bowl appearances, four Super Bowl wins, three Super Bowl MVPs — a perfect record on the sport’s biggest stage that “Joe Cool” built on a calm that never seemed to register the moment as pressure.
93.9/100 Top 49 score1Up 1
Rank 04Patrick Mahomes
Quarterback · Kansas City Chiefs · 2017–present
Three Super Bowl titles and two NFL MVP awards inside his first six years as a starter, throwing from arm angles and platforms no quarterback coach would ever teach but that consistently work anyway.
92.2/100 Top 49 score4Up 4
Rank 05John Elway
Quarterback · Denver Broncos · 1983–1998
“The Drive” — a 98-yard fourth-quarter march in the 1986 AFC Championship — defined his early reputation more than any of his three Super Bowl losses that followed. He finally closed the loop with back-to-back titles at the end of his career.
90.9/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 06Aaron Rodgers
Green Bay Packers · 2005–present
Four MVP awards built on arguably the purest combination of arm talent and pocket anticipation the position has produced, though the championship return has never matched the individual dominance.
88.9/100 Top 49 score3Up 3
Rank 08Brett Favre
Packers, Vikings · 1991–2010
The only player to win three consecutive NFL MVP awards, powered by a gunslinger’s willingness to make a throw no coaching staff would ever call — for better and, over 336 career interceptions, occasionally for worse.
84.9/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 09Dan Marino
Miami Dolphins · 1983–1999
His 1984 season — 5,084 yards, 48 touchdowns — stood as the standard for two decades before Manning and Brees finally caught it. The one line missing from an otherwise complete résumé is a championship.
83.5/100 Top 49 score3Down 3
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Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.