NFL • HISTORY

The 10 Greatest Quarterbacks of the Modern NFL Era

From Staubach to Brady and Mahomes, these are the quarterbacks who defined the modern NFL.

There is no perfect way to rank quarterbacks across generations. The NFL has changed too much. Rules changed. Offenses changed. Defenses changed. What teams asked their quarterbacks to do changed.

So this isn't a statistical exercise. It's an attempt to answer a bigger question: Who were the greatest quarterbacks of the modern NFL era?

For this list, the modern era begins with the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Championships matter. Peak performance matters. Longevity matters. Individual dominance matters. And so does the degree to which a quarterback defined his generation.

One other thing matters: winning the whole thing.

Every quarterback in our Top 10 won at least one championship as a starter. That requirement leaves out some extraordinary players, but when we're separating the greatest from the merely great, championships have to count.

10. Roger Staubach

Roger Staubach's NFL career was relatively short, in part because four years of military service delayed its beginning. What he accomplished anyway was remarkable.

Staubach led Dallas to two Super Bowl championships, reached four Super Bowls as a starter and became one of the defining quarterbacks of the 1970s. He could beat defenses from the pocket or escape pressure and create something when a play broke down.

His career numbers don't look enormous next to modern quarterbacks. His impact does. Staubach was the quarterback around whom "America's Team" was built.

9. Steve Young

Steve Young spent years waiting behind Joe Montana. Once the job became his, he showed just how extraordinary he was.

Young combined elite passing efficiency with a running ability that was rare for a quarterback of his era. At his peak, there may not have been a more difficult quarterback to defend.

His masterpiece came in Super Bowl XXIX, when he threw six touchdown passes as San Francisco defeated San Diego. The performance removed any question about whether Young could lead the 49ers to a championship of his own.

8. Brett Favre

Brett Favre played quarterback with an aggressiveness that sometimes produced spectacular mistakes and often produced spectacular football.

He won three consecutive league MVP awards, started 297 consecutive regular-season games and helped restore Green Bay to championship status. His victory in Super Bowl XXXI gave the Packers their first NFL championship since the Lombardi era.

Favre's interceptions are part of his record. So are the arm strength, durability and fearlessness that made him one of the defining quarterbacks of the 1990s.

7. Drew Brees

Drew Brees was told early in his career that he might be too small to become an elite NFL quarterback. He responded by becoming one of the most productive passers the sport has ever seen.

In New Orleans, Brees and Sean Payton built one of football's great passing offenses. Brees repeatedly produced 5,000-yard seasons at a time when reaching that number was still extraordinary.

His defining achievement came in the 2009 season, when he led the Saints to their first Super Bowl championship and was named the game's MVP.

6. John Elway

John Elway entered the NFL with enormous expectations and spent most of his career carrying them.

His arm strength, mobility and late-game improvisation made him one of the most dangerous quarterbacks of his generation. He took Denver to five Super Bowls, often with teams that depended heavily on him to create offense.

For years, the missing piece was a championship. Then Elway finished his career by winning two straight Super Bowls, including a Super Bowl MVP in his final game.

5. Aaron Rodgers

Few quarterbacks have ever combined arm talent, accuracy and ball security the way Aaron Rodgers did at his peak.

Rodgers could make throws from virtually any platform and became particularly remarkable at producing touchdowns without giving defenses opportunities for interceptions.

He won four league MVP awards and led Green Bay to victory in Super Bowl XLV, where he was named MVP. His postseason résumé isn't as extensive as those above him on this list, but his peak level of quarterback play is impossible to ignore.

4. Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning changed what people expected an NFL quarterback to control before the snap.

He turned the line of scrimmage into a chessboard, diagnosing defenses, changing protections and adjusting plays in real time. He also produced numbers that helped redefine modern passing.

Manning won five league MVP awards and championships with two different franchises. His 2013 season in Denver — 5,477 passing yards and 55 touchdown passes — remains one of the landmark quarterback seasons in NFL history.

3. Patrick Mahomes

Patrick Mahomes reached territory normally reserved for all-time legends remarkably early in his career.

His combination of arm strength, creativity, mobility and improvisation expanded the possibilities of the position. Throws that once looked reckless became routine because Mahomes could actually make them.

More important, the spectacular plays translated into championships. Multiple MVP awards, multiple Super Bowl victories and repeated postseason success put Mahomes into this conversation long before his career was finished.

His final place in quarterback history is still being written.

2. Joe Montana

Before Tom Brady, Joe Montana was the standard.

Montana went 4-0 in Super Bowls, won three Super Bowl MVP awards and became synonymous with performing his best when the stakes were highest.

Bill Walsh's offense was revolutionary, but Montana was the ideal quarterback to run it: accurate, poised, decisive and extraordinarily calm under pressure.

"The Catch," the drive against Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII and four championships made Montana the quarterback against whom greatness was measured for a generation.

1. Tom Brady

The résumé eventually became overwhelming.

Seven Super Bowl championships. Ten Super Bowl appearances. Three league MVP awards. Championships across two franchises and two decades.

But Brady's case isn't simply about longevity.

He won in different versions of the NFL, with different teammates and different offensive identities. Early in his career, New England could win with defense and situational football. Later, Brady directed some of the most productive passing attacks the league had seen.

Then, at age 43, he went to Tampa Bay and won another Super Bowl.

Others may have possessed greater physical gifts. Some produced individual seasons that rivaled or exceeded his best. Nobody matched the total body of work.

Tom Brady is No. 1.

The An Educated Fan Top 10

1. Tom Brady
2. Joe Montana
3. Patrick Mahomes
4. Peyton Manning
5. Aaron Rodgers
6. John Elway
7. Drew Brees
8. Brett Favre
9. Steve Young
10. Roger Staubach