The NFL released the 22 finalists at the quarterback position for the #NFL100 all-century team. The list was relatively unsurprising: Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman, Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Norm Van Brocklin, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Fran Tarkenton, Joe Namath, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers.
The list also had a somewhat modern tilt to it, effectively ignoring the first 15 years of the NFL’s history, and with little representation of passers before World War II. It also dips in 1980, as Namath, Tarkenton, and Staubach all retired in the late ’70s, and Montana was the only Hall of Fame QB to enter the league in the nine-year period fro 1974 to 1982. Finally, it dips at the end, in part because those players are still building their Hall of Fame careers.
Two of the best quarterbacks of their era.
Russell Wilson is a future Hall of Famer: it is safe to say that now. Wilson is a combination of a bunch of Hall of Famers. He’s going to win a ton games, succeeding as a Bob Griese, game manager early in his career and a Drew Brees, carry-the-team type guy now. His style resembles Fran Tarkenton or Steve Young, and he’s been a TD/INT superstar for most of his career. The only real knack on Wilson is that he takes a lot of sacks, but some of that is offset by his good rushing ability. He’s played for 8 seasons, and every single one of them has been a good one. Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett are the two players he’s thrown the most passes to, followed by Jermaine Kearse and Jimmy Graham. His offensive coordinators have been Darrell Bevell and Brian Schottenheimer. Few quarterbacks in NFL history have had 8 consecutive years as successful as Wilson; you can count on one hand the number who have done it with forgettable receivers and offensive coaches.
Ben Roethlisberger’s career is basically complete, and it’s been an outstanding one. Like Wilson, he was a Griese-style manager early in his career on a team with a great rushing game and defense. He’s won over 2/3s of his career starts and has thrown for 363 touchdowns. The players with 250 touchdown passes and a 65% winning percentage: Joe Montana, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning.
Roethlisberger went 13-0 as a rookie and averaged 8.9 yards per attempt; he averaged a league-high 8.9 Y/A again in 2005 and won the Super Bowl. But it was the later strech of his career with bad defenses that rounded out his legacy: Roethlisberger led the league in passing yards per game three times,and has been above-average almost every season of his career. Brett Favre, Dan Fouts, and Aaron Rodgers have 9 seasons with an ANY/A+ of 110 or better. Nobody has 10. Roethlisberger has 11, Montana, Brady, and Brees have 12, Manning has 13, and Marino has 14. Add in the three Super Bowl appearances and two titles, and Roethlisberger has a strong case for being a top-22 quarterback.
Jim Kelly lost two seasons to the USFL, which are usually ignored. But Kelly had two great seasons there, at ages 24 and 25, and then came into the NFL and was an above-average passer as an age-26 rookie. He oversaw the only sustained success in Buffalo history, and the Bills 0.631 winning percentage with Kelly under center is a true outlier. Statistically, he was very good but not great: he was rarely in the conversation for best quarterback in the NFL (and playing outdoors in Buffalo didn’t help his statistics), but his two-year peak in ’90 and ’91 makes him a reasonable snub for this list. He was a first-team All-Pro QB in 1991 and obviously led the Bills to four straight Super Bowls. From 1986 to 1995, Kelly ranked 1st in quarterback wins, 2nd in passing touchdowns to Marino, and 3rd in yards per attempt to Montana and Steve Young. While he wasn’t Young or Montana or Marino, was as efficient as any other passer in the league. Add in his two USFL years, and that’s a dozen consecutive years of very good quarterback play.
Warren Moon, like Kelly, deserves credit for his play in another league. But let’s look at in reverse chronological order.
Warren Moon is 21 years older than Tom Brady. In 2019, Tom Brady has been an average starting quarterback. In 1998, Moon was a below-average starting quarterback. Every other quarterback in NFL history at the age of 42? They were worse than Moon.
At age 41, Brady was very good, Moon was a Pro Bowl quarterback, Brett Favre and Vinny Testaverde were starting quarterbacks, and everyone else was not.
At age 40, in 1996, Moon outdueled eventual MVP Brett Favre and the eventual Super Bowl champion Packers in a September shootout. Two weeks later, he threw a pair of touchdown passes in a win over the Panthers, who finished 2nd to Green Bay in points allowed that season and went to the NFC Championship Game. Moon broke his collarbone and missed the rest of the season.
In 1995, at age 39, Moon was a very good quarterback: only Brady and Brees have been better at age 39.
And, of course, the previous 11 years, Moon was an excellent NFL quarterback. His best year came in 1990, at age 34, but that’s more a reflection of the talent around him than anything specific about Moon. In ’90, he had Haywood Jeffires, Drew Hill, Ernest Givins, and Curtis Duncan. In 1985, at the age of 29, when Moon was in his prime, he was throwing to HIll and …. running back Butch Woolfolk, WR Tim Smith, and TE Jamie Williams. Moon joined an absolutely dreadful Oilers team that went 3-22 in the two years before his arrival.
Moon joined the CFL and the Edminton Eskimos in 1978. He led the team to the championship as a rookie, and then Edminton repeated in 1979, won a third straight Grey Cup in 1980, won a fourth Grey Cup in 1981, and then five-peated (!) in 1982. In 1983, Warren Moon won the CFL Most Outstanding Player of the Year trophy, but that was the one and only season where he did not win a title.
Moon was an oustanding for his age quarterback at the end of his career. He was probably the best quarterback in the NFL at age 34. The idea that he wasn’t a great quarterback in his prime, because he played in another league or because he played on awful Oilers teams, is hard to digest. Moon was not given the option to join the NFL as a quarterback early in his career due to the color of his skin. That shouldn’t be held against him now when we evaluate how good of a quarterback he was, and he’s a true snub on this list.
Kurt Warner, like Kelly and Moon, spent time in another league. He was an excellent quarterback in the Arena Football League, but that was a true minor league. I don’t think Warner deserves anywhere near the credit for his time in the AFL that Moon and Kelly do for their time in the CFL and USFL respectively, but it helps to explain Warner’s career arc.
He started his first game in the NFL at the age of 28 with the Rams, and was basically the best quarterback in pro football from the moment he entered the league. Warner led the NFL in ANY/A in each of his first three seasons, which puts him in elite company. In 13 playoff games, Warner threw for 31 touchdowns and averaged 8.55 yards per attempt with just 14 interceptions. He went 9-4, and is legitimately one of the greatest postseason quarterbacks in league history. And while his time with the Rams was legendary for its brilliant, his 2008 postseason run is in the discussion for best ever.
Warner went to three Super Bowls with three different head coaches, and none of those teams were known for their defense or running game. Warner’s resume has holes: the middle of his career being the main one, but Warner turned the ball over too frequently and was injury prone. But he’s one of the few players who you could take at his peak and feel good about your chances of winning against any opponent.
Sonny Jurgensen is maybe the most underrated quarterback in pro football history. I’ll let Brad Oremland take this one.
Vince Lombardi coached Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, and together they won five NFL Championships. Lombardi coached against Johnny Unitas every year. Yet it was of Sonny Jurgensen that Lombardi said, “He may be the best the league has ever seen. He is the best I have seen.”
People were in awe of Sonny Jurgensen. Jurgensen was universally hailed as the best pure passer of his generation. In the literature of the sport, that is the phrase you find, over and over again: “best pure passer.” No one really talks about “greatest pure passer” any more, and if they did, I suppose most people would look for someone more recent, maybe Peyton Manning or Dan Marino. But the brilliance of Jurgensen’s arm is cited everywhere.
Jurgensen led the NFL in passing yards five times, twice setting the single-season record. He led in touchdowns twice, and his career passer rating (82.62) is the highest of his generation, fractions ahead of the AFL’s Len Dawson (82.58), but comfortably in front of Starr (80.5), Fran Tarkenton (80.4), Unitas (78.2), Bob Griese (77.1), Joe Namath (65.5), and George Blanda (60.6). Jurgensen (1957-74) and Unitas (1956-73) were contemporaries, but Jurgensen’s TD/INT differential (+66) is substantially better than Johnny U’s (+37). Unitas himself said, “If I threw as much as Jurgensen, my arm would fall off. And if I could throw as well, my head would swell up too big to get into a helmet.”
Although he’s largely forgotten today, Jurgensen was highly admired during his career. He was all-NFL three times, including first-team in 1961. Sonny was renowned for his calm poise in the face of a pass rush, his quick release, and his touch on the ball. His reaction to defensive pressure was particularly remarkable. Jurgensen threw well off either foot, and if necessary, with either hand — he was 2-for-3 left-handed — when a defender tied up his right arm, Jurgensen grabbed the ball with his left hand and threw it anyway. He seldom played with an adequate line, and there are almost as many stories about his cool under pressure as there are about his golden arm.
Jurgensen’s playing style was comparable to Dan Marino’s: the greatest passers of their generations, both with lightning-quick releases and uncanny touch on both short- and long-range passes. They also shared a propensity for touchdowns. Jurgensen’s 6.0% touchdown percentage is among the highest in history, and he threw the most touchdown passes (207) of the 1960s. Sonny ranked third in career TD passes until nearly 20 years after his retirement — when Marino surpassed him.
Jurgensen’s stats are exceptional for his era, and his arm inspired outright awe. The only mark against Jurgensen, and the reason he’s seldom remembered among the greatest quarterbacks of all time, is that his teams never won a championship.
Len Dawson was the best statistical passer of his generation. Was he the best quarterback in AFL history? He wouldn’t have my vote, but the numbers would suggest he was. How good was Dawson? He owns the 4th-best era-adjusted passer rating ever, behind only three players older than him. As recently as 1985, Dawson — who retired in 1975 — was still in the top 5 on the career passer rating list. Dawson led the AFL in passer rating in 6 seasons, and led the AFL in completion percentage 7 times and the NFL an 8th time in 1975. Dawson’s game was tailor-made to do well in these metrics, but no matter: he ranks tied for 2nd all-time in completion percentage after adjusting for era, behind only Sammy Baugh and tied with Otto Graham.
Statistically, Dawson’s career is easily in the top 15 all-time. The efficiency focus overrates him — his best years came in a weaker league, he took a ton of sacks, he lost a lot of fumbles — but he is a legitimate Hall of Fame quarterback. He also played well in the postseason overall, and came up big in Super Bowl IV against one of the best defenses ever.
Y.A. Tittle was the NFL’s all-time passing touchdown king in 1965. He remained the all-time passing yardage leader through 1967. Tittle rushed for 39 touchdowns in his career; he’s one of only five players in NFL history with 39+ rushing touchdowns and 39+ passing touchdowns, and he has the most passing touchdowns of that group. Tittle led the NFL in passing touchdowns 3 times and completion percentage twice. When he retired, he was the all-time leader in 4th quarter comebacks. Tittle threw 39 touchdown passes in the 4th quarter that tied the game or took the lead, and ran for another 8; those 47 game-changing touchdowns lead the league during his era.
Tittle joined the New York Giants at the age of 35. And despite that, Tittle *still* has the 2nd best era-adjusted passer rating performance in Giants history, and owns 3 of the top 7 era-adjusted passer rating seasons. He was a 4-time MVP: in ’57 with the 49ers when he had 5 fourth quarter comebacks and took the worst defense in the league to the playoffs; in ’61, with the Giants, when he went 8-1-1 and in ’62 and ’63 when he led the league in touchdown passes both years (in ’63, he also led the league in yards per attempt and passer rating). He wasn’t Johnny Unitas, but he might have been the 2nd best quarterback from 1955 to 1964, and was a Pro Bowl quarterback in ’53 and ’54, too.
Arnie Herber led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns three times in his 5 years from 1932 to 1936. His 1936 season really stands out for his era: most teams could not pass and the league as a whole threw 216 interceptions against just 67 touchdowns. Herber threw 11 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions. He was the best passer of the 1930s and ushered in the era where the pass was a viable option to move the ball forward.
Benny Friedman was the first great passer in pro football history. As Brad Oremland wrote:
It’s a shame we don’t have complete stats for Benny Friedman, because he was the one truly exceptional passer of the 1920s. It’s common to hear Sammy Baugh credited as the first great passer, but that’s probably not right. Baugh was a great passer, and his influence popularized passing as a legitimate offensive strategy. But Friedman, by all accounts, was a magnificent passer, without peer among his contemporaries.
Friedman was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, more than 20 years after his death. At least three reasons contributed to the long wait. First, and most obviously, there were very limited passing statistics during his career. At a time when baseball, boxing, and college football ruled the sporting landscape, stats were among the few ways for players to make a mark that would be remembered. But they simply don’t exist for this period. Friedman’s HOF page reads, “Although official statistics were not kept, he is believed to have completed more than half his passes, at a time when 35 percent was considered a very good performance.” Friedman led the NFL in passing TDs four years in a row, and in rushing TDs once. But if we had more comprehensive stats, we could outline exactly far ahead of his contemporaries Benny was as a passer.
A second factor in Friedman’s relative lack of recognition is that his teams never won a championship. The Bulldogs and Wolverines went a combined 15-6-2 with Friedman, and Tim Mara bought the Wolverines in 1929 just to get Friedman for the Giants. New York went 13-1-1, but Green Bay went 12-0-1 and was awarded the title. The Packers did beat the Giants, 20-6, the week before Thanksgiving. The Giants went 13-4 the next year, but again lost the title to Green Bay. Friedman’s teams were always good, but never the best.
As a third consideration, Friedman’s HOF induction was probably delayed by his own personality. Friedman bragged about his own greatness in a way that turned people off. But he was right. Friedman was by far the best passer of his era, as well as a successful runner and kicker. He led the NFL in extra points in 1928 and ’29.
What do you think?