Patrick Mahomes might miss the playoffs this season.
He also has a long way to go to surpass Tom Brady in NFL history.
Peyton Manning and Joe Montana are good enough for this top 10 list.
Lamar Jackson and reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen must keep proving themselves in the playoffs.
But there’s a clear No. 1 of all-time, and Mahomes will have to continue his top-level play for years just to move into the top five.
Below, talkSPORT ranks the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
10. Patrick Mahomes
While the 30-year-old Mahomes is technically young in NFL years, he’s already in the top echelon of QBs when it comes to Super Bowl rings.
Mahomes has three world championship trophies and his wins have been unbelievable, including electric thrillers and comeback victories.
Yet the Eagles’ 40-22 win in the Superdome was a hard blow, and Mahomes acknowledged after Kansas City’s loss that he let the Chiefs down.
“I feel like I didn’t play to my standard, especially the struggles that I had early in the season,” Mahomes said.
“There’s things that I have to get better at, and they kind of showed today on the biggest stage.”
‘Showtime’ Mahomes is already on a clear Hall of Fame path.
Patrick Mahomes has won three Super Bowl trophiesGettyNot bad for a former Texas Tech prospect who ran a slow 40-yard dash at the combine and now jokingly begs the NFL to stop showing his video.
Throw in the fact that Mahomes has changed how the NFL is played at the QB position, and he’s football’s version of Stephen Curry.
But it’s been a rough 2025 for Showtime, and the Chiefs entered Week 15 with a 6-7 record while trying to save a frustrating season.
Career stats: 35,750 passing yards, 267 passing touchdowns
9. Roger Staubach
Staubach is the first ‘old timer’ to make this list but it was impossible to exclude Captain America.
His service in the United States Navy limited his NFL stats.
But there’s no doubt that Staubach belongs, and he helped create the “franchise quarterback” term that is widely used today.
The two-time Super Bowl champion excelled through the air and on the ground, totalling 24,964 yards and 173 touchdowns.
Staubach was also the face of the Cowboys during an era when Dallas dominated TVs and The Star became synonymous with the growing power of the NFL.
Stats: 22,700 yards, 153 TD
Roger Staubach was the face of the Cowboys when Dallas was America’s Teamgetty8. Aaron Rodgers
Brett Favre was once viewed as irreplaceable inside Lambeau Field.
Rodgers patiently waited for his turn, then spent 18 seasons wowing Packers fans and joining Favre in Green Bay history.
The No. 24 overall pick in 2005 has made 10 Pro Bowls, been named NFL MVP four times and kept getting better with age — until he faced reality with the New York Jets.
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The only thing missing from Rodgers’ trophy case is a second Super Bowl ring.
He entered the 2024 offseason facing another career crossroads.
After the Super Bowl, it was clear that the Jets were going one way and Rodgers was heading for another.
He finally signed with the Steelers, and now must make Mike Tomlin‘s big gamble pay off.
Throwing 14 TDs in six games as a Steeler was a promising start for the 41-year-old QB.
Rodgers also enjoyed his time in Dublin and collected an international victory at Croke Park.
Pittsburgh entered Week 15 with a 7-6 record, while Rodgers had played through a wrist injury to return to the top of the AFC North.
Stats: 65,322 yards, 523 TD
Aaron Rodgers has thrown more than 500 NFL touchdownsgetty7. Dan Marino
More than 20 years after he threw his last pass, Marino’s powerful arm is still the stuff of NFL legend.
No one could throw the ball like Marino — and no one has since.
The Pittsburgh product redefined the possibilities of the quarterback position during his second season with the Miami Dolphins, throwing for 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns.
He made nine Pro Bowls, won an NFL MVP and finished his 17-year career with 420 TDs.
The only drawback for Marino was the Dolphins, who made the Super Bowl with their super-armed QB but failed to win the big game.
Like Staubach, Marino was ahead of the curve and showed the NFL proof of what QBs would eventually become.
Stats: 61,361 yards, 420 TD
Dan Marino’s powerful arm is the stuff of NFL legend and hasn’t been recreatedgetty6. John Elway
The 1983 NFL Draft changed the league.
It also produced two of the greatest QBs in history.
Marino went to Miami at No. 27.
Elway was so talented that he went No. 1 overall in a first round that featured seven future Hall of Famers, then forced his way from the hapless Baltimore Colts to the Denver Broncos by threatening to play baseball for the New York Yankees.
One of the first dual-threat QBs, Elway possessed a rocket arm and a bruising body — he rushed for 3,407 yards and 33 TDs during his 16-year career.
Elway’s name is still linked with some of the NFL’s greatest moments (‘The Drive’) and he appeared in five Super Bowls, winning back-to-back trophies in 1997-98 before going out on top.
Stats: 51,475 yards, 300 TD
John Elway went out on top and was a powerful dual threat with running back powergetty5. Johnny Unitas
Before Peyton Manning was breaking down NFL defenses, there was a Baltimore Colt who dominated football and altered the way the QB position was played
Unitas made 10 Pro Bowls, won multiple NFL championships — including Super Bowl V against Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys — and was named MVP three times.
Unitas totalled more than 40,000 passing yards and recorded 290 TDs during an era when running backs dominated offenses.
As big as his numbers are, it’s worth wondering how much more Unitas would have accomplished in the contemporary era.
Stats: 40,239 yards, 290 TD
Johnny Unitas’s unique playing style led to the modern passing game in the NFLgetty4. Brett Favre
It’s hard to imagine Mahomes’ on-the-field brilliance without Favre’s backyard magic.
Favre was the first NFL QB to do it his own way and keep winning big, year after year.
The Southern Mississippi product is also a reminder that the greatest NFL arms often break the mold and don’t have to be No. 1 picks.
Favre was taken at No. 33 overall in 1991, then barely played during his rookie year in Atlanta.
His career changed with a 1992 trade to Green Bay, where the Gunslinger joined forces with offensive-minded head coach Mike Holmgren.
Favre spent the next 18 seasons as a constant MVP contender, winning the award three times.
His next-to-last season with Minnesota should never be forgotten.
As a 40-year-old, Favre threw for 4,202 yards and 33 TDs, leading the 12-4 Vikings to the edge of the Super Bowl.
Stats: 71,838 yards, 508 TD
Brett Favre helped take the NFL to new heights in the 1990s and played with passiongetty3. Peyton Manning
There was a time when Tom Brady vs Manning was a polarising debate.
A fan was either on one side or the other, and it was easy to pick Manning as the best QB in the NFL.
The Sheriff propelled football into a new age, utilising video preparation and scouting to modernise the position.
But Manning was also a throwback, inspired by legends such as Unitas and learning the sport from his father, Archie.
Ranking highest paid quarterbacks in NFL
Tied-for-5th. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Allen is unquestionably the Bills’ franchise QB.
But will he carry Buffalo where Jim Kelly couldn’t reach?
Kelly made four Super Bowls during the Bills’ glory days in the 1990s.
Allen has impressed since entering the NFL in 2018 as a risky No. 7 overall pick out of Wyoming, which isn’t famous for producing Super Bowl winners.
He’s already reached the playoffs in six seasons and won NFL MVP.
But there’s still another level that Allen can reach and he must get there if he’s going to eventually replace Kelly as the best QB in Bills history.
Contract: $330m total, $55m AAV
talkSPORT ranks the highest-paid QBs in the NFL
Manning won five MVP awards, earned 14 Pro Bowl honors, and was named Comeback Player of the Year.
His best years were with Indianapolis and his best rivalry with Brady was when the Colts and New England Patriots annually went head to head.
But Manning cemented his legacy with four final seasons in Denver, throwing for an NFL record 5,477 yards in 2013 with the Broncos and walking away as a 2015 Super Bowl winner.
Stats: 71,940 yards, 539 TD
Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl with the Colts and Broncosgetty2. Joe Montana
The NFL’s original GOAT.
Montana was untouchable when he was with the San Francisco 49ers, who created a dynasty that dominated the league in the 1980s.
Paired with Jerry Rice — regarded as the best wide receiver in NFL history — the third-round pick out of Notre Dame was also Joe Cool long before Joe Burrow was a Bengal.
Montana did it the old way, watching and learning during his initial two years, then mastering Bill Walsh’s sport-changing West Coast offense.
Montana won two MVP awards and captured four Super Bowl trophies.
Like Brady, the 49ers legend was at his best in the playoffs (16-7 record) and created a body of work that is still being appreciated.
Stats: 40,551 yards, 273 TD
Joe Montana is one of the best QBs in NFL historyGetty Images - Getty1. Tom Brady
As good as the others are, no one comes close to Brady.
Brady had the longevity of LeBron James and the championship dominance of Michael Jordan.
The greatest NFL QB of all time has an almost 10,000-yard advantage over Drew Brees for the most passing yards in history, while Brady threw nearly 100 more TDs than his second-place competitor.
Once viewed as a system quarterback within the New England Patriots’ dynasty under Bill Belichick, the No. 199 overall pick rewrote the record book and established himself as a legendary force in the NFL.
Brady finished his career with seven Super Bowl rings and threw for 4,694 yards at age 45 with Tampa Bay.
The GOAT was so great that fans kept wondering if he would un-retire again.
Stats: 89,214 yards, 649 TD
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