Who doesn’t love a good quarterback legacy debate? Following a 2015 season that saw passing numbers rise to an all-time high – and a year capped by Peyton Manning winning his second Super Bowl title and then metaphorically sailing off into the sunset, it seems like a good time to rank my top 100 quarterbacks to ever play the game.
What I Looked At to Compile My Rankings:
I focused on the major passing statistics – completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown-to-interception ratio, and passer rating – to gauge a quarterback’s effectiveness compared to his peers. But I also looked at some of the less notable ones, such as adjusted net passing yards per pass attempt (ANY/A – my personal favorite), sack percentage, and rushing numbers. And there’s no way to get around the ‘rings’ argument; while I didn’t focus solely on the number of championships a quarterback obtained, his role in his team’s performance – particularly in the postseason, when the stakes are highest – was factored in. After all, it’s the most important position in sports, and how far a team advances in the postseason is frequently a reflection on how the quarterback performs.
I looked at how many times a quarterback was viewed as dominant – Pro Bowl selections, All-Pro nominations, MVP awards, as well as season’s leading the league in statistical categories. Being ‘good’ typically only gets a team so far; it’s the teams with elite quarterbacks that have the best chance of hoisting the Lombardi trophy.
I also looked at a quarterback’s supporting cast, notably his rushing attack, the receivers he was given, the quality of his offensive line, and the caliber of his defense. Was he a one-man team or just a caretaker who was along for the ride? You’d be amazed at what a top-5 defense or rushing attack can do for a quarterback. Likewise, there’s a lot of pressure on a quarterback who has to throw the ball 40-50 times per game to overcome his defense’s struggles and running game ineptitude.
Measuring quarterbacks across eras is a near-impossible task – how do you compare Sammy Baugh’s league-leading 1,367 yards and 12 touchdown passes in 1940 to Drew Brees or Peyton Manning’s totals?, but that’s part of the fun. It requires an attempt to view all eras as equal, even the time period when throwing the ball forward was considered too dangerous and risky to be much more than a passing fad.
This is not solely a stathead list, but let’s be honest: A quarterback can best be measured by the statistics he puts up on the field of play. Having a cannon arm and an amazing ability to run with the ball is terrific, but can it translate to results during a game?
There’s no minimum season requirement to make this list, but no matter how good a quarterback was (sorry, Greg Cook or Robert Griffin III), one season of quality play isn’t going to be enough. I looked for signal-callers who were able to sustain excellence over a large number of years, and a quarterback’s ability to avoid injury and stay on the field was a major factor in my rankings. I also did not look at other leagues that weren’t the NFL – USFL or AAFC, specifically – and I did not count old-timers like Benny Friedman, for whom there are no statistics. I’m sure Friedman was a great quarterback, as evidenced by the fact that he’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but I have no way of knowing how to rank him.
I broke this article series into four parts: Part I will cover quarterbacks 100-51, Part II will cover quarterbacks 50-21, Part III will highlight quarterbacks 20-11, and Part IV will cover the 10 best quarterbacks of all-time.
Side note: I didn’t go by the traditional rankings. Ask most experts who the greatest QB of all-time was, and they’ll tell you Joe Montana. That may very well be the case, but I wanted to see if I reached the same conclusion after some in-depth analysis. There are some quarterbacks on my list who differ significantly from the ‘generally accepted quarterback rankings’, but there are also those that fall right in line with everyone else’s views. Check it out and see for yourself.
The Rankings (#100-51):
100. Jim Harbaugh (1987-2000)
Before he was the highly-popular NFL and college coach he is now, Jim Harbaugh was a quality quarterback in the 1990s. He led the league in interception percentage twice, made a Pro Bowl with the ’95 Indianapolis Colts, and threw a legendary Hail Mary that would have taken the Colts to the Super Bowl (but it was dropped).
99. David Garrard (2002-2013)
For a former fourth-round pick, David Garrard had a pretty efficient career. He won more games than he lost for Jacksonville (39-37), posted the 10th-lowest interception percentage (2.4) in league history, and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a playoff game with an impressive late-game run on fourth down.
98. Jay Cutler (2006-Active)
Jay Cutler is an easy target to criticize, but he’s been at least a league-average (or slightly above) quarterback for the last decade, and that’s enough to get him on a top 100 list. Cutler has thrown for over 30,000 yards and 200 touchdowns; just 32 quarterbacks in league history have done that. Cutler hasn’t started all 16 games in a season since 2009, but he’s still one of 17 QBs with at least seven seasons of 15+ starts.
97. Babe Parilli (1952-1969)
Five straight seasons of 20-plus interceptions and a 45.7 completion percentage doesn’t seem like the performance of a top-tier quarterback, but it was a different game during Babe Parilli’s days. He actually made the Pro Bowl in three of those seasons, leading the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns once each, and earned a First-Team All-Pro selection in ’64.
96. Marc Bulger (2002-2009)
Pro Football Reference once determined Marc Bulger had the easiest stadium/weather conditions of any quarterback ever; otherwise, he would surely rank higher on this list. There were almost two parts to Bulger’s career – there was the part from 2002-2006 where he posted a 91.3 passer rating and went 36-24 as a starter, then there were those final three seasons where he posted a 70.9 passer rating and went 5-30 as a starter.
95. Jeff Hostetler (1985-1997)
Jeff Hostetler was a solid caretaker quarterback like Alex Smith, but he was remarkably effective in the postseason: Hostetler’s career 9.34 adjusted net yards per passing attempt average (ANY/A) is the highest in playoff history for a quarterback with at least five games started. Hostetler, who threw career postseason seven touchdowns without a pick, won a ring with the 1990 New York Giants, filling in exceptionally when Phil Simms got hurt.
94. Jake Delhomme (1999-2011)
There are more positive Jake Delhomme moments than one might think. Three times he won double-digit games as the Carolina Panthers’ starting quarterback, and he had four 3,000-yard seasons and a 29-touchdown campaign in 2005. In his first year as an NFL starter, he set a single-season record with eight game-winning drives (Eli Manning is the other QB to have done it), and he nearly beat the New England Patriots with a tremendous Super Bowl performance, including two fourth-quarter touchdown passes.
93. Steve Grogan (1975-1990)
Steve Grogan never made a Pro Bowl (he’s one of just four quarterbacks on my list who can say that), but he had a solid career that spanned 16 seasons. Grogan led the NFL in touchdown passes in 1979 and finished as one of 11 quarterbacks in history with at least 35 rushing scores.
92. Matt Schaub (2004-Active)
Before he became a pick-six machine, there was a period from 2007 through 2012 where Matt Schaub was actually one of the better quarterbacks in the game. During that span, he ranked seventh among 26 qualifying quarterbacks in completion percentage (65.06), posting a higher number than that of Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, or Philip Rivers. Schaub made two Pro Bowls and led the NFL with 4,770 passing yards in 2009.
91. Kerry Collins (1995-2011)
Interesting fact: Kerry Collins is probably the third-biggest quarterback (6’5”, 248 pounds) on my list, behind just Daunte Culpepper (6’4”, 260) or Cam Newton (6’6”, 260), although Collins was not a runner as those two were.
Collins threw for over 40,000 yards, and while his completion percentage (55.69), yards per attempt (6.54), and passer rating (73.8) are all the lowest of any of the 18 40,000-yard passers, 40K is still 40K. Collins led the New York Giants to the 2000 Super Bowl and made Pro Bowls 12 years apart for two different teams.
90. Jack Kemp (1957-1969)
Jack Kemp threw interceptions at an alarming rate, throwing 20 or more six times and finishing with a 6.0 interception rate that ranks as the fourth-worst ever of a quarterback with at least 3,000 passing attempts. Kemp still managed to make seven Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams, but that was largely the result of playing in the eight-team AFL, before the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
89. Billy Kilmer (1961-1978)
Before he was a quarterback, Billy Kilmer was a successful running back, finding the end zone 15 times in two seasons. As a passer, he played nearly two decades, throwing for over 20,000 yards and 152 touchdowns. His best year came in 1972 when he led the NFL in TD passes, making the Pro Bowl and taking the Washington Redskins to the Super Bowl, where it’s no shame to lose to the league’s only undefeated team ever (by just seven points).
88. Mark Rypien (1988-2001)
Mark Rypien really only had four years as a quality starter before spending a decade as a backup, but it’s still enough to make this list. He made a pair of Pro Bowls and won Super Bowl MVP as quarterback of the 1991 Washington Redskins team that went 14-2 and rolled over the Buffalo Bills, 37-24.
87. Milt Plum (1957-1969)
Milt Plum is one of just 10 quarterbacks in league history to lead the NFL in completion percentage at least three times, and he set a single-season record in passer rating (110.4 in 1960) that stood until Joe Montana broke it in 1989. Plum also led in interception percentage twice, although his career really trailed off after just his fifth season.
86. Tobin Rote (1950-1966)
The predecessor to Bart Starr in Green Bay, Tobin Rote rebounded from an absolutely horrific rookie season to carve out 13 solid years as a pro. He led the NFL in touchdown passes twice and passer rating once with the Packers, then turned in an All-Pro season with the San Diego Chargers in 1963. Rote also ran for over 3,000 yards and 37 touchdowns. His career postseason passer rating was 98.6 in four games, three of which his team won.
85. Joe Flacco (2008-Active)
Until 2015’s ACL tear, Joe Flacco was a model of consistency. He had never made a Pro Bowl but posted similar numbers every year of his career. Flacco hasn’t been too much more than a league-average regular-season passer, but his durability (122 consecutive games started to begin his career) and postseason success are why he’s on this list.
Flacco has posted a passer rating over 90 in four of the six postseasons in which he’s played, and since 2010, his playoff numbers are off the charts: 24 TD passes to just four interceptions, plus a Super Bowl MVP to cap off an 11-TD, no-INT run in ’12.
84. Brad Johnson (1994-2008)
Brad Johnson had a long career as a fill-in starter and backup, but there were some exceptional moments. Johnson made two Pro Bowls, led the NFL in interception percentage on two occasions, and helped the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the Super Bowl.
83. Steve Bartkowski (1975-1986)
Steve Bartkowski threw for nearly 25,000 yards and over 150 touchdowns in a 12-year NFL career. He made two Pro Bowls and threw for 30 touchdowns in consecutive seasons (just the third quarterback at the time to do so), although he had a dreadful lifetime sack percentage (9.3) that stands as the sixth-worst of any QB in my top 100 list.
82. Norm Snead (1961-1976)
Norm Snead is one of four quarterbacks in history to lead the league in interceptions four times, and he’s the only QB ever with over 250 picks and fewer than 200 TD passes. Still, Snead passed for over 30,000 yards in a two-decade career and qualified for four Pro Bowls.
81. Ron Jaworski (1974-1989)
Before he was a phenomenal NFL analyst for ESPN, Jaws was a solid, if unspectacular quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. He was extremely durable, at one point starting 127 consecutive games, and he threw for 179 touchdowns and over 28,000 yards, earning a Pro Bowl selection and leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance.
80. Craig Morton (1965-1982)
Craig Morton was probably better than people realize in the regular season. While he never made a Pro Bowl, he’s the only QB in history to lead the NFL in yards per attempt in three different decades, and he took two separate teams to the Super Bowl. Morton was disastrous in the postseason though, finishing with a 40.1 career completion percentage, 42.0 passer rating, and 3.06 ANY/A in 10 playoff starts, which actually makes him the worst overall playoff QB of the Super Bowl era.
79. Trent Green (1997-2008)
From 2002 through 2005, Trent Green was one of the more efficient quarterbacks in football, posting a 92.7 passer rating that actually trailed only Peyton Manning among the best marks in the league. Green started every game over a five-season span with the Kansas City Chiefs, earning two Pro Bowl selections and posting three 4,000-yard campaigns.
78. Earl Morrall (1956-1976)
There’s quite a lot of history involving Earl Morrall. He played for six teams over 20 years, appearing in 255 games but starting in just 102. Morrall was largely a backup, but was excellent when he started – he earned First-Team All-Pro selections in 1968 and 1972, winning the league MVP award in 1968. Morrall went 9-0 as a starter for the Miami Dolphins in ’72, leading the league in passer rating (91.0) before giving way to Bob Griese in the AFC Championship Game. From 1968-1972, Morrall was 31-3-1 as a starter.
77. Chad Pennington (2000-2010)
Durability wasn’t Chad Pennington’s strong suit, but when he was on the field, he was very efficient. Pennington led the league in completion percentage twice, and his 66.0 career mark is the highest ever for a retired quarterback. Pennington was a two-time NFL Comeback Player of the Year, which was also a testament to both his inability to stay healthy and his ability to then rebound from those injuries.
76. Andrew Luck (2012-Active)
Few quarterbacks in league history have done more with less than Andrew Luck, who is still just 26 years old. Until a 2015 season that was plagued by injury and ineffectiveness, Luck led the Indianapolis Colts to an 11-5 record in each of his first three years, despite never having a 100-yard rusher in a single game. Luck has also never played with a Pro Bowl offensive lineman, and he’s been forced to throw the ball 40+ times in 41.82 percent of his games, a higher mark than any QB in the top 100 except Drew Brees.
Watch Luck play, and you see he even has the ability to run for a first down, and that’s a big reason why the Colts are never out of a game as long as he’s the quarterback. Luck’s willingness to take chances down the field leads to a high number of turnovers, but it’s also resulted in 14 game-winning drives in just four seasons, plus an amazing 28-point comeback in his first-ever postseason contest.
75. Brian Sipe (1974-1983)
The leader of the Kardiac Kids, Brian Sipe was at his best in the 1980 season when he won the NFL MVP award, throwing 30 touchdown passes to just 14 interceptions and leading the league in passer rating. Sipe led the Cleveland Browns on 11 game-winning drives in a two-year span from ’79 through ’80, but turned in a brutal performance in his only postseason game – a 32.5 completion percentage, no touchdown passes, and three interceptions, one on a Red Right 88 play that will go down in Browns’ infamy.
74. Daunte Culpepper (1999-2009)
When Daunte Culpepper had Randy Moss, he was arguably the best fantasy weapon in the game.
| Years | Moss? | Comp % | YPA | TD:INT | Passer Rating | Rush TD | W-L Record |
| 2000-2004 | Yes | 64.4 | 7.8 | 129:74 | 93.2 | 28 | 36-37 |
| 2005-2009 | No | 59.0 | 6.9 | 20:32 | 71.7 | 6 | 5-22 |
Without Moss, Culpepper was a backup at best. As a result, I can’t rank Culpepper any higher than this. Culpepper also fumbled a ridiculous amount, fumbling 75 times in his five years as a starter with the Minnesota Vikings, and he took way too many sacks.
73. Neil Lomax (1981-1988)
It’s unfortunate Neil Lomax had to retire due to injury at age 29, because he would probably be in the top 40 quarterbacks on this list. Lomax made two Pro Bowls with Arizona, averaging 3,305 passing yards and 21 touchdowns over his final six NFL seasons, and he kept his interceptions low as well (although that may be more because he held onto the ball forever and took 362 sacks in just eight seasons.
72. Vinny Testaverde (1987-2007)
After being drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Vinny Testaverde struggled mightily in his first several seasons. He threw just 77 touchdowns to 112 interceptions through 1992, before leaving as a free agent and bouncing from team to team through the end of his career. There were some highs – two Pro Bowl berths in a three-year span from 1996 to 1998, a 23-point fourth-quarter comeback on Monday Night Football, and over 46,000 passing yards and 275 touchdown passes. Still, Testaverde lost more games as a starter (123) than any other quarterback and he led the NFL in interceptions four times, including a modern-record 35 in his first full season as a starter.
71. Michael Vick (2001-2015)
Michael Vick never fully developed as a passer, but as a runner, he was as electrifying as any player in the history of the league. Vick’s career rushing mark of 6,109 yards is over 1,000 yards more than the next-closest quarterback (Randall Cunningham), and Vick did so on a 7.00 yards-per-carry average, five times leading the NFL in yards per carry.
Vick’s career was infamously halted due to a dogfighting scandal, but he rebounded to put together an MVP-caliber season with Andy Reid’s 2010 Philadelphia Eagles: a 62.6 completion percentage, 21 touchdown passes to just six interceptions, a 100.2 passer rating, another 676 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground, and this performance on Monday night that may be the greatest by any quarterback in one game in the league’s history.
70. Cam Newton (2011-Active)
Similarities between Cam Newton and Michael Vick (ranked directly above): Each was taken first overall in the draft (by an NFC South team) and each is a freakishly athletic runner. Their styles are different; Newton is built like Daunte Culpepper, in that he’ll just roll over a defender, and he’s hitting his prime as a passer now.
Fresh off a league MVP campaign that saw him account for 45 touchdowns and lead the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl, the best appears to still be coming for Newton. He’s already tied with Steve Young for the most rushing scores by a QB (43), and Newton has done this in just five years. He’s also been remarkably durable, missing just two games since being drafted, and that was when he broke his back in a car accident.
Can Newton continue playing this style of football into his thirties? It’s doubtful, to be honest. The closest example of a quarterback to Newton is Culpepper, who all but dropped off the planet after his fifth season. Newton will need to improve as a passer (as he finally did in ’15 after four straight underwhelming passing seasons) so he can extend his career as more of a traditional, dropback passer, and less of a runner.
69. George Blanda (1949-1975)
George Blanda is one of a kind as a football player. He lasted for parts of four decades, playing until he was 48 years old. He was a backup quarterback early, started for about eight years, and then played the rest of his days as a backup quarterback again. Blanda was also a kicker for his entire career, converting nearly 1,000 extra points and leading the league on eight occasions. As a passer, Blanda threw way too many interceptions (four seasons leading the NFL, plus a single-season record 42 in in 1962), but he also led the league in completions four times and threw for over 26,000 yards and 236 touchdowns.
68. Charlie Conerly (1948-1961)
Chucking Charlie Conerly led the New York Giants to three NFL championship games, winning by 40 points over the Chicago Bears in 1956. Conerly was a Hall of Fame finalist seven times but never got in, making him one of just three quarterbacks (Kurt Warner and Ken Anderson are the others) to be a finalist without getting voted in.
67. Ace Parker (1937-1946)
Proof that football was a different game when Ace Parker played: He was just 6’0”, 178 pounds, and yet lasted 10 years in the National Football League in an era when quarterbacks could actually be hit. Parker is enshrined in the Hall of Fame, despite statistics that don’t look too impressive by today’s standards: a career 46.7 completion percentage, 30 touchdowns to 50 interceptions, and a 72.6 passer rating. Still, Pro Football Reference’s advanced passing stats show his adjusted passer rating was actually 26 percent better than the league average during his playing days, which is one of the better marks in league history.
66. Tommy Thompson (1940-1950)
Tommy Thompson was one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in the 1940s, earning a Pro Bowl selection, leading the league in TD percentage three times, and topping in passer rating twice. Thompson led the Philadelphia Eagles to consecutive championship titles in ’48 and ’49, although Thompson can’t get too much credit for the wins, considering he posted a combined 7-21-75-1-4 passing statline in the two games.
65. Jim Hart (1966-1984)
Outside of his four-year peak (1973-1976), Jim Hart wasn’t very effective – in those other 15 seasons, he threw 60 more interceptions than touchdowns. For his career, Hart made four Pro Bowls and went 31-11 as a starter for the St. Louis Cardinals (now Arizona) from 1974-1976.
64. Ken O’Brien (1984-1993)
The New York Jets famously bypassed Dan Marino in the 1983 NFL draft to take Ken O’Brien. O’Brien was no Marino, but he still had a productive career of his own, leading the league in interception percentage on three occasions and accumulating over 25,000 passing yards. O’Brien made two Pro Bowls and led the league in passer rating once.
63. Bernie Kosar (1985-1996)
Bernie Kosar had a similar career to Ken O’Brien, but with better postseason performances – Kosar led the Cleveland Browns to three AFC Championship Game appearances, although he couldn’t get over the John Elway/Denver Broncos hump to get to the Super Bowl. Still, Kosar’s career 6.14 ANY/A in the postseason more than holds his own.
62. Frank Ryan (1958-1970)
Frank Ryan is one of just eight quarterbacks in history to have led the league in touchdown percentage in three separate seasons, and he made three straight Pro Bowls for the Cleveland Browns in the mid-1960s. Ryan’s career 7.0 touchdown percentage is the second-best mark ever, trailing just Sid Luckman.
61. Bert Jones (1973-1982)
Take away Bert Jones’ 1976 campaign, and he wouldn’t rank nearly as high, but what a year it was: Jones led the Baltimore Colts to an 11-3 record and division title, topping the NFL in passing yards (3,104) and ANY/A (7.78), while throwing 24 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. Jones went 36-13 as a starter over the five-year span from ’75 through ’79, posting an 89.4 passer rating.
60. Russell Wilson (2012-Active)
Here’s the complete list of NFL quarterbacks (since the merger) to make three Pro Bowls in their first four seasons: Dan Marino, Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia, Andrew Luck, and Russell Wilson. If you narrow that list down to QBs with three Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl ring, that includes just Wilson and Warner (although Warner is the only one to win the SB MVP). Wilson has never missed a start in his four seasons, and he took that next step as a passer in 2015, posting a career-best 68.1 completion percentage, 8.3 yards per attempt, 74.91 QBR, and league-high 110.1 passer rating (and he did that without Marshawn Lynch or Jimmy Graham in the second half of the season).
Of course it’s a lot easier to play quarterback when you’ve been blessed with the No. 1 scoring defense every season of your career, plus a rushing attack that has ranked in the top five every year as well. As a result, Wilson has averaged just 27 passing attempts per game since being drafted; that’s a little over a half for Drew Brees or Andrew Luck.
Then again, Wilson’s efficiency can’t be argued; here are his career marks in some of my favorite passing statistics – second in passer rating (101.8), third in interception percentage (2.0) and ANY/A (7.15), fourth in YPA (8.1), eighth in completion percentage (64.7), and ninth in touchdown percentage (6.1). Wilson has a career 93.4 playoff passer rating in 10 starts and if he continues his progression as a passer, he has a legitimate case to be regarded as one of the top 12 to 15 quarterbacks of all-time.
59. Jim Everett (1986-1997)
Jim Everett retired 11th on the NFL’s all-time passing yards list (34,837), and he has as many 20-touchdown seasons (6) as Joe Montana, John Elway, and Dan Fouts. There’s a widely-believed notion that Everett never recovered from taking too many sacks in the 1989 playoffs, but he actually posted a pretty impressive 5.0 lifetime sack percentage.
58. Matt Hasselbeck (1998-2015)
Recently retired Matt Hasselbeck had a pretty good career, topping out with the Seattle Seahawks in the mid-2000s. He threw for over 36,000 yards in 17 years, making three Pro Bowls and leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship. His career postseason numbers are pretty solid – 18 touchdowns to nine interceptions and a 84.2 passer rating.
57. Don Meredith (1960-1968)
Don Meredith often gets lost in Dallas Cowboys lore behind Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, but he was a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback in the 1960s who was just hitting his stride when he retired at age 30. Meredith was the losing quarterback in the famous Ice Bowl game.
56. Drew Bledsoe (1993-2006)
Drew Bledsoe put up gaudy passing yards with the New England Patriots, and he’s currently 10th on the all-time list at 44,611 yards. It took him a lot of pass attempts to get there, and he actually has the fifth-lowest yards per attempt average (6.64) of any QB on the top 100 list. Bledsoe is well-known for giving way to Tom Brady, but he went on to have a Pro Bowl season with the Buffalo Bills in 2002, just a year after taking a hit that could have killed him.
55. Danny White (1976-1988)
Danny White had an unusual career – he was the Dallas Cowboys’ full-time punter for a decade, as well as being a quarterback who led the team to three straight NFC Championship Game appearances (1980-1982). White never got the Cowboys to the Super Bowl, but he owns a pretty impressive 67.4 regular-season winning percentage that is higher than notable quarterbacks like Steve Young, Bart Starr, and John Elway. Interesting fact about White: he holds the NFL record for the most passing attempts (2,950) by a quarterback with multiple receiving touchdowns.
54. Matt Ryan (2008-Active)
Matt Ryan has had a pretty good career – he’s thrown for 4,000 yards the last five seasons while completing 66 percent of his passes, he’s made three Pro Bowls, and he’s missed just two games to injury in eight NFL seasons. But lack of postseason success (just a 1-4 record) has kept him from joining the elite tier of quarterbacks. His numbers are also more of a product of today’s passing era; since joining the league in 2008, he’s in the middle of the pack among qualifying quarterbacks in passer rating.
53. Phil Simms (1979-1993)
It’s unfortunate that an injury to Phil Simms kept him out of the 1990 Super Bowl and denied him a chance at a second ring (as a starter). Simms threw for over 33,000 yards and nearly 200 touchdowns in his career, and led the New York Giants to the playoffs on five occasions. Simms was near-flawless in his Super Bowl win, setting a Super Bowl single-game record in completion percentage (88.0).
52. John Hadl (1962-1977)
When he retired in 1977, John Hadl was third on the all-time list in passing yards (33,503) and fourth in touchdown passes (244). He’s since dropped down the list, but Hadl is still one of just 24 quarterbacks to earn at least six Pro Bowl selections, and he’s one of just two (Jack Kemp is the other) to be eligible for the Hall of Fame and not have been voted in.
51. Joe Theismann (1974-1985)
We all know how Joe Theismann’s career abruptly ended in 1985, which is a shame because he was just two years removed from an MVP campaign and consecutive Super Bowl appearances (one win) with the Washington Redskins. Theismann is one of 13 quarterbacks in league history to have been both a regular-season MVP and Super Bowl champion (although in different years). Theismann, interestingly enough, began his career as a punt returner – the only other quarterback on this list to have returned as many punts as Theismann (15) was the versatile Otto Graham.
Stay tuned for Parts II, III, and IV, which will count down the final 50 QBs.
Follow Cody Swartz on Twitter (@cbswartz5).
