The 2025 NFL season is upon us, and we have now a fairly good thought which groups possess a transparent quarterback benefit. Solely a choose few, in spite of everything, have the posh of deploying a transcendent expertise underneath middle, leaving the remainder of the league to financial institution on extra unstable signal-callers. However have the present standard-setters on the place all the time reigned supreme on this regard?
The reply is sure and no. Some, just like the Inexperienced Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, are having fun with the most recent in a protracted and proud line of star quarterbacks. In the meantime others, just like the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, are experiencing their first actually spectacular gunslinging in many years. Nonetheless others, just like the Indianapolis Colts, try desperately to increase a big however fast-fading legacy.
In anticipation of the brand new season, Cody Benjamin and Bryan DeArdo teamed as much as assessment the all-time quarterback historical past of all 32 NFL teams, rating them from least to most spectacular utilizing the next standards:
- Particular person affect of high quarterbacks (MVPs, Professional Bowls, All-Execs, and so on.)
- Longevity of high quarterbacks’ careers
- Group success and championships gained
- General depth of crew’s historical past of quarterbacks
Right here is their full breakdown, with all 32 groups separated into 5 tiers:
*Tier 5: Determined Dreamers
Ranked and compiled by Bryan DeArdo.
Prime QBs: Matt Schaub, C.J. Stroud, Deshaun Watson
Houston’s last-place end is partially a results of the Texans being the NFL’s youngest crew. At this level, the perfect quarterback in Texans historical past could be the one at the moment underneath middle.
Prime QBs: Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer, Jim Hart
Whereas they loved profitable tenures within the desert, Warner and Palmer solely performed 5 years apiece in Arizona. Previous to them, the Cardinals’ final profitable quarterback was Jake Plummer, who in 1998 led the Cardinals to their first playoff win in 51 years.
Prime QBs: Mark Brunell, David Garrard, Trevor Lawrence
Brunell helped the Jaguars get to inside a sport of the Super Bowl in 1996, the franchise’s second yr of existence. Garrard and Lawrence have additionally gained playoff video games for Jacksonville. The problem is that the crew hasn’t had any good quarterbacks exterior of those three.
Prime QBs: Cam Newton, Jake Delhomme, Kerry Collins
Just like the Jaguars (who have been additionally based in 1995), Carolina has loved some good quarterback play over the previous 30 years, however that success has been few and much between. The peaks: one MVP (Newton) and three totally different quarterbacks who helped lead the franchise to the NFC title sport.
*Tier 4: Combined Luggage
Ranked and compiled by Bryan DeArdo.
Prime QBs: Sid Luckman, Jim McMahon, Jay Cutler
Cutler is the Bears’ profession passing chief with simply 23,443 yards. No different Chicago quarterback has thrown for greater than 15,000 yards. That is dangerous.
Prime QBs: Joe Namath, Ken O’Brien, Chad Pennington
Namath is a Corridor of Famer who helped engineer the most important upset in professional soccer historical past. However since his departure from New York 50 years in the past, the crew has had solely a handful of succesful quarterbacks.
Prime QBs: Otto Graham, Bernie Kosar, Brian Sipe
Just like the Jets, the Browns have a Corridor of Famer who led his crew to the promised land pre-merger. And whereas the Browns have had some stable quarterbacks within the many years since Graham, they’ve as a rule had underwhelming play at that place. No shock: They’re beginning over (once more) in 2025.
Prime QBs: Bobby Layne, Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff, Scott Mitchell
Detroit’s current run of success is the rationale they’re ranked this excessive; Stafford was often prolific and Goff helped them to an NFC championship look. Meaning the Lions have had constant high quality play on the place since 2009.
Prime QBs: Fran Tarkenton, Daunte Culpepper, Tommy Kramer
It’s kind of shocking to have the Vikings this low contemplating how good they are usually. Tarkenton is a Corridor of Famer who led the crew to 3 Tremendous Bowls in 4 years through the ’70s. Since his scrambling days, nevertheless, no different signal-caller has helped Minnesota attain the massive sport.
Prime QBs: Russell Wilson, Dave Krieg, Matt Hasselbeck, Jim Zorn
Seattle has loved regular quarterback play for almost everything of its 50-year existence. Whereas his profession has fizzled since leaving Seattle, Wilson nonetheless has a very good likelihood of being the primary Seahawks quarterback to be inducted into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame due to his decade-long run as a title-winning twin risk.
Prime QBs: Matt Ryan, Michael Vick, Steve Bartkowski
Like Wilson in Seattle, Atlanta has one other quarterback in Ryan who will probably earn a Corridor of Fame induction sometime. Vick additionally possessed Corridor of Fame expertise that led to some of the profitable and entertaining runs in franchise historical past. Mockingly, Chris Chandler, the primary Falcons quarterback to guide the crew to a Tremendous Bowl, is basically ignored when discussing Atlanta’s finest quarterbacks.
Prime QBs: Joe Flacco, Lamar Jackson, Steve McNair
You possibly can argue if he was elite, however you’ll be able to’t argue that Flacco was a Tremendous Bowl-winning quarterback for Baltimore who performed a key function in mentioned title. Jackson hasn’t gained a Tremendous Bowl but, however he’s a wildly dynamic two-time league MVP.
Prime QBs: Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield, Brad Johnson
Brady solely spent three years in Tampa, however two of these years have been among the many finest seasons of his peerless profession. Brady was preceded in Tampa by Johnson, who made greater than sufficient performs to assist the 2002 Bucs seize the franchise’s first Tremendous Bowl. Mayfield has continued to supply Tampa with high quality quarterback play since Brady’s retirement, including an surprising spark as a journeyman.
Prime QBs: Archie Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Brooks
New Orleans has endured lengthy, painful stretches with out good quarterback play. However the franchise has additionally loved some of the prolific passing careers in NFL historical past due to Brees, who in 2009 led the Saints to their first title. Whereas Brees is a slam-dunk future Corridor of Famer, Manning’s profession could have additionally resulted in a gold jacket if hadn’t been saddled to dangerous supporting casts.
*Tier 3: Works in Progress
Ranked and compiled by Cody Benjamin.
Prime QBs: Donovan McNabb, Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunningham, Jalen Hurts
McNabb did every little thing however recover from the hump, following in Cunningham’s footsteps as a twin risk forward of his time. “Jaws” took the Birds to the massive sport. And Hurts, nonetheless simply 26, has already produced two championship-caliber Tremendous Bowl performances, claiming one ring, because the steely face of an all-star group.
Prime QBs: Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, Joe Burrow, Carson Palmer
Anderson gained NFL MVP, and Esiason gained Tremendous Bowl MVP. Which honor is subsequent for Burrow, who’s among the many sport’s high pure pocket passers? If he sticks round even longer than Palmer, a pacesetter of the 2000s, odds are he’ll get one or the opposite.
Prime QBs: Jim Kelly, Josh Allen, Jack Kemp
If Kelly had captured simply one in all his 4 Tremendous Bowl appearances, this crop would in all probability be a lot increased on the pecking order. Allen definitely has the instruments to make up for the near-misses, usually serving because the NFL’s finest pure playmaker this facet of Patrick Mahomes, and eyeing his seventh straight playoff bid in 2025.
Prime QBs: Dan Fouts, Philip Rivers, John Hadl, Justin Herbert
Consistency is the secret right here. No Bolts quarterback has hoisted the Lombardi, however each Fouts and Rivers have been elite for almost all of their prolonged careers; the previous helped revolutionize passing along with his “Air Coryell” deep photographs.
*Tier 2: Historic Bunches
Ranked and compiled by Cody Benjamin.
Previously the Houston Oilers.
Prime QBs: George Blanda, Steve McNair, Warren Moon
The Oilers boasted two Corridor of Fame quarterbacks in Blanda and Moon. McNair, in the meantime, helped the franchise get pleasure from near-instant success after the membership relocated and rebranded itself in Nashville in 1997. Cameron Ward is up subsequent.
Prime QBs: Eli Manning, Phil Simms, Charlie Conerly, Y.A. Tittle
The clutch moments do numerous the heavy lifting in New York. Manning could have by no means been a persistently “elite” authority underneath middle, however he was uber-cool when it mattered most in not one however two Tremendous Bowl upsets. Simms additionally gained his personal title, and Tittle gained MVP throwing 36 touchdowns again in 1963.
Previously the Washington Redskins.
Prime QBs: Sammy Baugh, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, Sonny Jurgensen, Mark Rypien
Regardless of a protracted slog of middling choices within the 2000s, there’s a wealthy and underrated historical past right here: Three totally different quarterbacks (Rypien, Theismann, Williams) led Tremendous Bowl wins, and “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh captured two NFL titles pre-merger as an aerial artist effectively forward of his time. Higher but, Jayden Daniels seems primed to launch this crew even additional as the brand new face of the franchise.
11. Kansas Metropolis Chiefs
Prime QBs: Patrick Mahomes, Len Dawson, Trent Inexperienced
Mahomes is already a Corridor of Fame lock after simply seven years as a starter, cruising to 3 Tremendous Bowl wins and two MVP nods as an otherworldly level guard. The query is, what number of extra can he acquire earlier than he hangs it up? Dawson was legendary, too, starring as “Lenny the Cool” for the Chiefs’ first Tremendous Bowl run.
Prime QBs: Dan Marino, Bob Griese, Earl Morrall
The one knock on Marino is he by no means acquired a hoop, however his numbers (61,000+ profession yards) and 1984 MVP run confirmed him as some of the gifted gunslingers to ever lace them up. Griese did not simply safe two trophies for Miami however helped the Dolphins go 17-0 in 1972 for the NFL’s solely good season to this point.
Prime QBs: Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe, Steve Grogan
The depth is probably not as spectacular right here, however how can the crew that deployed probably the most achieved quarterback of all time be left exterior the highest 10? Brady was Mr. Inevitable, securing six rings and one other three Tremendous Bowl appearances with New England, terrorizing the remainder of the league with unmatched poise and imaginative and prescient.
Prime QBs: Ken Stabler, Daryle Lamonica, Wealthy Gannon, Jim Plunkett
This is not recency bias, because the silver and black have these days been hurting for a real difference-maker. They dominated the outdated and grittier days, although, with Lamonica’s “Mad Bomber” deep photographs and Stabler’s left-handed resolve making the Raiders virtually synonymous with ’60s and ’70s soccer. Plunkett carried the torch into the ’80s.
*Tier 1: Corridor of Fame Factories
Ranked and compiled by Cody Benjamin.
Prime QBs: Kurt Warner, Norm Van Brocklin, Roman Gabriel, Matthew Stafford
It is a who’s who of greats from principally each period. Van Brocklin put the Rams on the map with their first championship in 1951. Gabriel gained MVP in 1969. Warner served because the inconceivable hero of the “Biggest Present on Turf” in 1999. And Stafford reached the promised land in his very first season with the crew in 2021, translating years of Lions stardom right into a long-awaited playoff surge for L.A.
Prime QBs: Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger, Neil O’Donnell, Bobby Layne
The Steelers are a real litmus check for what you worth when defining “all-time quarterback success.” Is it steadily dynamic manufacturing? Or simply rings? As a result of Bradshaw acquired 4 of these dangerous boys within the ’70s and ’80s, even when he was by no means the prettiest passer. “Massive Ben” was extra splashy, however even he was extra rugged than loads of friends. It is simply the Steeler Means.
Prime QBs: John Elway, Peyton Manning, Craig Morton
It is a top-heavy bunch, and even Manning solely spent 4 years in Denver, however the peaks are so illustrious. Between simply Elway and Manning, in spite of everything, the Broncos superior to seven totally different Tremendous Bowls, profitable three. Morton additionally reached the massive sport, although it is Elway’s Corridor of Fame tear over 16 years because the true propeller. Like Brady with the Patriots, he single-handedly elevated the complete program.
Prime QBs: Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Don Meredith, Dak Prescott, Tony Romo, Danny White
If we have been rating solely by depth and period of high quality play, “America’s Group” may take the cake, as a result of it is exhausting to discover a decade the place the Cowboys have been with out serviceable, if not particular, arm expertise. By some means none of their greats have gained NFL MVP, however Staubach’s zeal and Aikman’s precision mixed for 5 Tremendous Bowl wins; each are actually enshrined within the Corridor of Fame.
3. Indianapolis Colts
Prime QBs: Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas, Andrew Luck, Bert Jones
If Colts followers need solace after witnessing Indy’s present state of affairs underneath middle, they want look no additional than their very own document books. Unitas gained three MVPs and 4 titles as a prototype of the trendy quarterback. Manning was a calculated genius out of the pocket for 14 years. Jones additionally gained MVP, and Luck was a preferred decide for the award earlier than his abrupt retirement.
2. San Francisco 49ers
Prime QBs: Joe Montana, Steve Younger, Y.A. Tittle, John Brodie
Which quarterback dialog begins or ends with out point out of Montana’s identify? Although Brady bested him in complete trophies, the “Comeback Child” nonetheless registers as the good, calmest thrower to let it rip, turning into the primary quarterback to win three Tremendous Bowl MVPs. Younger’s mobility and effectivity as Montana’s successor helped San Francisco go back-to-back with Tremendous Bowl-winning all-timers.
1. Inexperienced Bay Packers
Prime QBs: Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Bart Starr
Are they the deepest bunch? Not essentially. However who wants depth when you’ll be able to actually cross the baton from Favre to Rodgers and revel in 31 consecutive years of MVP-level moxie and manufacturing? And that claims nothing of Starr’s 5 NFL titles, together with the primary two Tremendous Bowls! No different crew has produced extra league MVPs (8) on the place, and who’s to say Jordan Love will not finally comply with swimsuit as Rodgers’ snappy-armed successor?
