Top 10 Greatest Nfl Quarterbacks of All Time

the 10 greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time second only to the US president the NFL quarterback is the most glamorous if not important job in the country Shinto the hopes and dreams of his team the quarterback carries the flag for entire cities regions and metaphorically ways of life the pressure is unreal considering the fact that sports obsessed Americans look to the gridiron gladiators for strength controlled violence and an escape from the routine fair of the daily grind the quarterback is viewed as the one member of the entourage that combines leadership intelligence and strategic thought alongside brute force to control games and emerge victorious NFL teams sell their collective Souls to trade up at the draft or wheel and deal at the free agent market place to land that once-in-a-lifetime franchise quarterback opportunity certainly today's NFL fanatics are privy to the circus atmosphere that surrounded one time Cleveland Browns rookie Johnny Manziel sports fans of course recognize that the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time emerges icons that define cities dynasties and here is in order to be defined as great the signal caller must combine top-shelf mechanics with gametime smarts and decision-making beyond the nuts and bolts of execution the quarterback must have it best described as the ability to win it is the poised to lead comeback drives refuse to back down from raging linebackers and inspire offensive lineman and teammates to lay it on the line and go to war day in and day out further it is a style and flair that matches success on the field with the ideals of a nation off the field indeed the term quarterback entices the imagination to personify all that is right with America let's introduce the top 10 greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time after the jump 10 Fran Tarkenton Fran Tarkenton set the gold standard while inventing the term mobile quarterback Tarkenton was known to evade rushers in the pocket and scramble to the outside to keep plays alive and drop bombs into the hands of his receivers scrambling friend is historically identified with his two separate stints with the Minnesota Vikings in the purple people eaters of course the nineteen seventies vikings and bud grant are also defined by losing three separate Super Bowls to Miami Pittsburgh and Oakland superbowl failures aside Tarkenton remains one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time he retired as the top quarterback in terms of yardage 47,000 and three completions 3680 six and touchdowns 342 on top of that frantic friend finished his career with 3674 rushing yards char Kenton's antics as a scrambler prevented injury and extended the career of this 6-foot 190 pound lightweight who lacked the cannon arm of a prototypical QB nine Otto Graham Otto Graham is arguably the greatest winner of all time in any sport this college running back made the switch to quarterback at the professional level and ran the wing-t to perfection for Paul Browns eponymous Cleveland Browns guiding the franchise to 10 straight title games and for all America football conference and three NFL championships Graham staggering feats and gamesmanship dominate the longevity of any dynasty despite the accolades grams position at the apex of NFL Lori's diminished by the relatively crude offenses in defensive schemes of the 40s and 50s although Otto Graham led the AFC and NFL in passing in five separate seasons his 20 3584 passing yards are only good enough for number 81 on the all-time list aight Steve Young John Steven young was never anointed as a golden boy in high school young-ran the option in Connecticut before stumbling is a traditional passer at brigham young university Steve Young is a descendant of Brigham Young ultimately drafted into the NFL by the laughingstock tampa bay buccaneers who promptly draft Vinny Testaverde and discard Steve Young is a bust prior to shipping him off to the san francisco 49 ers for a pu pu platter of draft picks of course Steve Young was to promptly take a seat on the bench behind eventual four-time Super Bowl winner joe montana young carried a clipboard at San Francisco within the 49 ers dynasty four Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV still the fiery lefty demonstrated his athletic ability during spot duty young dazzled the coaching staff with his ability to improvise out of the pocket and definitely facilitate the intricacies of the west coast offense and actually won the 1992 MVP award while Joe Montana recovered from injury these offensive fireworks led to a three-way quarterback controversy pitting young against joe montana and the upstart Steve bono throughout the early 90s but only the 1993 trade of Joe Montana to Kansas City could slam the door shut upon the drama and hand Steve Young the keys to the car despite his staggering statistical output featuring sixty-eight percent completion rates and 100-plus passer ratings commentators blasted young for his inability to beat the dallas cowboys and win Super Bowls young battled back with an epic 1994 campaign leading the 49 ers to 13 23 mark behind 70-percent passing 3969 yards and 35 touchdowns through the air young kept off this magical season by outlasting the hated cowboys and destroying the San Diego Chargers 49 226 and super bowl xxix by tossing a record six TD passes ironically the pure beauty of the san francisco 49 ers offense may have tarnished the legacy of steve young as critics may dismiss him as the greatest system quarterback of all time seven peyton manning peyton manning was so good for so long that the consistency has become boring the dictionary definition of an off shucks apple pie American Manning is the safe choice to enter the collective living rooms of america and pitch everything from credit cards to television programming and the cerebral playmaker is acknowledged more so for his precise attention to detail then he is for his equally impressive rocket arm ever the model of consistency Manning facilitated the staggering statistical resume zuv receivers at Indianapolis prior to a season-ending neck injury Manning had aired out the football for over 3,500 yards and 25 touchdowns for 13 straight NFL seasons and has 14 AP NFL player of the year awards as well as being a perennial Pro Bowl lock at age 37 Manning finished his career first incompletions passing yards and touchdowns Manning's career 97.2 QB rating is second only to steve young indeed Manning's 2004 season of 4557 yards and then record forty nine touchdowns ranks alongside Young's 94 as one of the greatest seasons ever enjoyed by an NFL athlete still Manning's claim to the throne is degraded by his inability to beat Florida when the Heisman and out dual Tom Brady sports writer bill simmons has introduced critics to the manning face of the funneled deer in headlights look expressing utter confusion upon the precipice of disastrous big game meltdowns a face that's made by both payton and his brother Eli in what could have been his swansong Manning led the 2013 denver broncos 2606 total points one of the most prolific offenses of all time only to be routed 43 28 in the super bowl by the seattle seahawks he retired a champion at the end of the 2015 NFL season although he was a shadow of his former self on the field six Johnny Unitas Johnny you laid down the gauntlet for the modern era quarterback in the forward pass this crew-cut kid from Pennsylvania paved the way for peyton manning as a star quarterback for the colts franchise and old-timers may hail Johnny Unitas as the first and foremost great signal-caller mr. clutch accepted the torch from Otto Graham in the late 50s calling his own place launching bombs orchestrating game-winning drives and shining upon the big stage Unitas marched his beloved Baltimore Colts towards to NFL crowns and one Super Bowl VIII ring perhaps most importantly unites helped usher football into television in the modern era by defeating the New York Giants 23 217 and over time as 45 million American viewers tuned in to the NBC broadcast for the greatest game ever played united separate drives to tie and win the big game are cited as the first examples of the 2-minute drill interestingly comeback kid Johnny Unitas was once cut by the pittsburgh steelers and even played semi-pro ball for six dollars per game from the bottom Unitas ultimately went on to revolutionize NFL offense with 40,000 239 total passing yards and 290 touchdowns which now rank is 14 and 9th in NFL history respectively as a coach on the field Unitas also introduced the world to Raymond Barry anymore and Alan image by playing winning football five bread fava prior to the retirement comebacks and Minnesota New York spectacles bread father was the face of the Green Bay Packer franchise the gunslinger was lauded for his joy for the game frozen tundra heroics and imposing arm strength despite the drama father will remain much beloved in Wisconsin and we'll walk into canton as a first-ballot hall-of-famer the iron man hung it up having started a record 297 consecutive regular-season and playoff games the durability had father finishing up his career as first in passing completions 6300 yards 70 1838 and touchdowns 508 father may also rest one Super Bowl ship and three AP NFL MVP awards on his trophy mantle speaking as a player in 1996 and 1997 with back-to-back Super Bowl appearances punctuated by father's death ability to sense pressure within the pocket and gun tight spirals into double and triple coverage blessed with arguably the strongest arm in NFL history father's tendency to ditch the playbook and improvised like a kid out there often led to embarrassing gaffes turnovers and why did he do that bloopers remember he would finish his career having thrown 310 interceptions the most by any player in NFL history in all the good LOL boy labored as a disappointment in Atlanta through on a pair of wrangler jeans battled painkillers Hawk coins operated as the men retired and reappeared into town as the next great savior for Tom Brady Tom Brady is the coolest NFL quarterback of all time the GQ cover boy dates and Mary's models when Super Bowls earns tens of millions of dollars annually and has accepted the baton from joe namath and dan marino as footballs chapter president of style on the gridiron the sixth round draft pick has already appeared in six Super Bowls winning four Tom Brady is this generations winner now being those four Super Bowl titles while playing pitch and catch with teammates named troy brown david patten kevin faulk di and branch and bethel Johnson first stepping into the limelight following a gruesome hit to Drew Bledsoe Brady has carried the ragtag new england patriots offensive rosters to the promised land in 2007 New England signed Wes Welker randy moss and dondi Stallworth to reload at wide receiver for yet another Super Bowl run Brady went ballistic beating the opposition into the ground towards a 16 20 regular season mark and finishing with a sixty-nine percent completion for 4806 yards and then record 50 touchdowns still this dream team season was derailed at Superbowl XLIII for the ferocious pass-rush dialed up by steve spagnuolo in his new york giants defense tom brady was harassed into quick throws all night and critical outsiders highlighted his spoiled tendencies to break down and blast teammates for mistakes as opposed to offering solid guidance and tough love ironically a repeat of these scenes materialized again in super bowl XLVI which Brady and the Patriots again also lost to the giants three dan Marino dan Marino is the greatest pure passer in the history of football recognized for his quick release and ability to deliver the ball into tight quarters with precision and touch dan marino proved that no defense could stop the perfect pass this 2005 hall-of-famer spent his 17-year career with the miami dolphins and owned every significant passing record upon retirement despite the fact that the isotoner pitchman performed as a virtual stiff behind Center Marino and his quick release rarely took sex in fact Moreno was sacked only six times during 1988 when he dropped back to pass for 606 attempts in 1984 dan marino through for 5084 yards and 48 touchdowns well before the run-and-shoot shotgun spread and west coast gimmicks of this present era had ever been installed into the playbook from there a twenty-seven-year-old Marino went on to match up against joe montana in the san francisco 49 ers in the Super Bowl after the superbowl 19 lost to the 490 RS dynasty leading football commentators generally agreed that the young marino would be back dan marino never return to the big game though as his career was attacked by Miami's lack of a running game porous defense and Jim Kelly's cake on buffalo bills we may only speculate as to what might have been with Moreno starring alongside hall-of-fame backs receivers and defenders in South Florida to John Elway in contrast to Steve Young Elway is every inch of the Golden Boy quarterback the son of college coach Jack Elway emerged as the top recruit in the nation after a stellar high school career in Southern California Elway elected to attend Stanford starring in football and baseball as well as majoring in economics at the prestigious institution the man proved to be a dangerous threat to run or pass and completed his amateur football career top every significant pac-10 record board at the time John Elway was the most physically gifted quarterback to enter the draft the Baltimore Colts selected the cocksure kid with the first pick in the loaded 1983 NFL Draft only to have Elway refused to report the threat of a viable professional baseball career allowed mr. Elway to call the shots and he was subsequently dealt to the Denver Broncos Elway of course was largely identified with the fourth quarter comeback and holds the record with 47 drives to tie or win football games within the final stanza as john elway and his Denver Broncos own the AFC and cleveland browns in the 80s terrorizing the dog pound with three championship game wins in 1986 1987 and 1989 of course denver provided fodder as the team to get spanked in the superbowl losing first to the New York Giants before facing down 4210 and fifty five to ten humiliations against Washington and San Francisco the comeback kid reserved his most important last-second drives for the fourth quarter of his own career only this time he had help in 97 and 1998 Broncos were stacked with talent on both sides of the football offensively Elway reserved the option of handing off to Terrell Davis working this seems to shannon sharpe rocketing flares to Rod Smith or hitting Edmund a free in stride across the middle to move the chains coached by west coast disciple Mike Shanahan the offensive juggernaut rolled to first and second in points scored behind Elway Elway then 37 finally achieved superbowl glory by going vintage Orange Crush and launching himself airborne before ricocheting over would be packard tacklers to earn clutch first-down yardage for the helicopter at Super Bowl XXXIII the loaded denver broncos repeated as champions the following season and john elway retired by riding into the sweet sunset as the owner of two Super Bowl rings to go alongside his 50 1475 total yards passing one Joe Montana casual fans of football must recognize the fact that Montana has thwarted nearly every modern ears claim to greatness on the field while his perfect big game legacy is impossible to overtake by those of any other time frame Joe cool was the ultimate game of that forced upstart Steve Young to the bench while dispatching dan Marino and john elway to second-class status by blowing these Golden Arm stalwarts out of the superbowl Montana carried the san francisco 49 ers into for super bowl games claiming for MVP awards in four separate Lombardi trophies Joe Montana lacked the big army yet managed to orchestrate the west coast offense to perfection the quarterback delivered the ball with timing and touch to blitz defenses 440 comma 551 career passing yards yes the high-octane 49 ers actually attacked the opposition offensively before Montana to rice there was the calm cool and collected 25 year old kid hitting Dwight Clark in the end zone against the Dallas Cowboys America's Team the heroics of the catch introduced Joe cool to the nation and setup Montana's 15-year career as the ultimate winner as number 16 performed as the portrait of quiet confidence undaunted by the moment the legend went 83 for 122 to pass for 1142 yards and 11 touchdowns against zero interceptions and four Super Bowls translating into an astronomical 120 7.8 quarterback rating at the big game Joe Montana arrived at a middling San Francisco franchise as a scrawny 1979 third-round pick and left is the forefront of the controls to the greatest offensive dynasty in the history of football