Best: Arizona Cardinals – Jim Hart
The Arizona Cardinals franchise has been around for almost an entire century, at least in some capacity. But over that time, the team has had only six quarterbacks ever selected to the Pro Bowl, and only one of them who was selected to the NFL’s All-Star game more than twice.
That would be Jim Hart, who was the team’s full-time starter between 1967 through 1981. Hart threw 209 touchdowns in that span, which is over 70 touchdown passes more than any other quarterback in franchise history.
Best: Atlanta Falcons – Matt Ryan
The Atlanta Falcons have had a few good-to-very good quarterbacks since the start of the 1990’s, ranging from guys like Chris Miller (a former Pro Bowl selection) to Michael Vick (once the most exciting player in the NFL). But none of those guys could hold a candle to what Matt Ryan has done for the Falcons’ franchise.
Ryan has almost double the amount of passing yards and touchdown passes as the guy who’s #2 on the Falcons’ all-time passing leaders list (Steve Bartkowski), and is the only quarterback in franchise history to have been named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
Best: Carolina Panthers – Cam Newton
Unless you happen to be relative of Kerry Collins or Jake Delhomme, it’s hard to believe anyone could think this designation would belong to anyone other than Cam Newton. The #1 overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, Newton is the only quarterback in franchise history to be named to an All-Pro team (2015) and be selected to the Pro Bowl multiple times.
In 2015, Newton ran roughshod through the NFL, throwing 35 touchdowns and running for 10 more, leading the Panthers to Super Bowl 50, and being named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.
Best: Chicago Bears – Sid Luckman
Though the Chicago Bears franchise has had some of the most iconic names in NFL history on its roster, including Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, and Mike Singletary, they haven’t had anything close to that at the quarterback position. The franchise forever known for its “Monsters of the Midway” defense haven’t boasted a truly elite NFL quarterback since Sid Luckman played under center for them in the 1940’s, under legendary coach George Halas.
Though Luckman’s passing yardage and touchdown pass totals were eventually surpassed by Jay Cutler, the latter is not — and will never be — a five-time All-Pro selection and Hall of Fame inductee like Luckman.
Best: Dallas Cowboys – Roger Staubach
A real-life football version of “Captain America” himself, Roger Staubach was a Vietnam War veteran, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback the at U.S. Naval Academy, and the first quarterback in INFL history to lead his team to the Super Bowl five times and the first of four players to ever win the Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP (the latter of which he won after leading the Dallas Cowboys to a win in Super Bowl VI).
He might not have the Super Bowl wins of Troy Aikman or the stat totals of Tony Romo, but Staubach was the one who truly made playing quarterback for the Cowboys one of the most iconic positions in American sports.
Best: Detroit Lions – Bobby Layne
Ironically, the guy many people would consider to be the best quarterback in the history of the Detroit Lions wasn’t even drafted by the team. The Chicago Bears selected Bobby Layne with the third overall pick in the 1948 NFL Draft, but the two-time All-Pro spent most of his career leading the Lions. Prior to the end of the 2018 season, Layne was the only quarterback in franchise history to lead the team in passing for eight consecutive seasons.
While most people would look at Matt Stafford’s passing numbers and say he deserves to be in this spot, Stafford has never been selected as an NFL All-Pro (while Layne has twice been selected as such), and probably won’t be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (as Layne was in 1967)
Best: Green Bay Packers – Brett Favre
Thanks to the foresight of former Green Bay Packers General Manager Ron Wolf (and the shortsightedness of former Atlanta Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville), Brett Favre went from riding the pine in Atlanta to becoming one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history as the starter.
Favre’s combination of a howitzer of a right arm, toughness of a cheap steak, and relishing making plays in the midst of chaos made him one of the most dynamic players of the 1990’s. The three-time NFL MVP and six-time All-Pro was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He currently sits in 3rd place on the NFL’s all-time passing yardage list, having thrown for 71,838 yards in his career.
Best: Los Angeles Rams – Kurt Warner
It’s the story we’ve heard many, many times over: the guy who went from being an Arena Football League castoff to grocery store bag boy to completely unknown backup quarterback to the starting quarterback of the most prolific offense in NFL history (to date). After Dick Vermeil was forced to turn to the virtually unknown Kurt Warner as the starting quarterback of the St. Louis Rams, most people feared the worst. Instead, Warner and the Rams set the record for the most productive offense in NFL history in 1999, en route to winning the franchise’s only Super Bowl championship.
Warner’s career 93.7 passer rating is the 10th-best in NFL history, and his 4,830 yards passing in 2001 (when the Rams would go on to lose to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl) is the 21st-most single season passing yards in NFL history.
Best: Minnesota Vikings – Fran Tarkenton
The “original gangster” of dual-threat quarterbacks, NFL players, media, and fans were in awe of Fran Tarkenton’s mobility and scrambling ability long before 24/7 media coverage and internet access made highlights so easy to watch. While many of them have been broken as of today, when Tarkenton retired from the NFL in 1978, he was the owner of virtually every quarterbacking stat you could think of.
In fact, Tarkenton’s 47,003 career passing yardage is still 11th-most in NFL history. In addition, he ran for 3,674 yards and 32 touchdowns over his career. Between 1973 and 1978, Tarkenton led the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs every single year, and that span included three Super Bowl appearances.
Best: New Orleans Saints – Drew Brees
There are very few greater “what if’s” in Super Bowl history than “what if the Miami Dolphins weren’t stupid enough to not sign Drew Brees in the 2006 offseason.” Obviously, Miami’s failure became New Orleans’ fortune, as Brees came to the Big Easy and, paired with Sean Payton, became the most prolific passer in NFL history, breaking the record for most passing yards in the history of the NFL in 2018.
Brees’ run of 12-straight seasons with more than 4,000 yards passing, including five seasons with more than 5,000 yards passing, is beyond staggering. The minute Brees decides to retire from the NFL, you can basically set your clock to five years from that day, because that’s when he’ll become eligible to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (and he’s going to be a no-brainer first-ballot induction).
Best: New York Giants – Eli Manning
Eli Manning’s place in NFL history, including a future spot in the Hall of Fame, is something of a lightning rod debate. While being the quarterback of two of the New York Giants’ four Super Bowl wins might sway voters into putting him into Canton one day, critics will tell you that he was the beneficiary of teams that could run the ball and play defense at a very high level (and played very well in their two Super Bowl wins over the New England Patriots).
All of that being said, Manning has more than 22,000 yards passing than any other quarterback in New York Giants’ history, and more than 170 more touchdown passes.
Best: Philadelphia Eagles – Donovan McNabb
Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles had something of a love-hate relationship with Donovan McNabb during his time in Philadelphia between 1998 and 2009, even though the Eagles made the playoffs eight times in 10 years with McNabb as the team’s starter, which included four straight trips to the NFC Championship game, the last of which included a win and a subsequent Super Bowl appearance (and loss).
Regardless of how anyone feels about his tenure with the Eagles, McNabb smashed all the passing records set by Ron Jaworski, and currently sits at 25th in all-time passing yardage (37,276) and 30th in passing touchdowns (234).
Best: San Francisco – Joe Montana
When you look back, it seems ridiculous that 81 players were taken in the 1979 NFL Draft, before Joe Montana. But, after winning a national championship as quarterback of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Montana went on to become the most decorated quarterback of his generation in the NFL. As the starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Montana won four Super Bowls, went to eight Pro Bowls, and was named to the NFL’s All-Pro team five times.
He was the MVP of the league in 1989 and 1990, and became the first player in the history of the league to be named MVP of the Super Bowl three times. With his numerous fourth quarter comebacks, Sports Illustrated named Montana as the number one clutch quarterback of all time.
Best: Seattle Seahawks – Russell Wilson
The Seattle Seahawks franchise has had a remarkable history of relative consistency at the quarterback position. The organization has had four different quarterbacks lead the team in passing for at least seven straight years, despite being in existence for less than 50 years. But, the catch is that three of those four guys — Jim Zorn, Dave Kieg, Matt Hasselbeck — weren’t really that great, in retrospect.
The fourth player among that group — Russell Wilson — doesn’t share that distinction. After winning the starting job as a rookie over Matt Flynn, Wilson led the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl win in franchise history in his second season in the NFL, led the team back to the Super Bowl the following year, and was a dark horse MVP candidate in 2017.
Best: Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Brad Johnson
If you look back through the history of quarterbacks of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s not pretty. Making this selection is almost like when you’re completely out of clothes to wear since you haven’t done the laundry, and trying to find the underwear with the least holes in it. Do you give it to Vinny Testaverde, who has the most passing yards in franchise history but a .333 career record in 72 games? Or Josh Freeman, who had only one winning season?
Trent Dilfer finished with a .500 record in Tampa, but had 80 interceptions in six years? We say no, and by process of elimination, give this distinction to Brad Johnson, who helped the Buccaneers win their only Super Bowl in franchise history in 2002.
Best: Washington Redskins – Sammy Baugh
One of the reasons Joe Gibbs was so respected among both his contemporaries and fans inside of our nation’s capital is because of the fact that he’s the only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a decade, with three different starting quarterbacks.
The Washington Redskins have had guys well-above-average guys like Sonny Jurgensen and Joe Theisman at quarterback, but the only true “superstar” that they’ve had at the position played before most of our parents were even born: “Slingin” Sammy Baugh. Baugh wasn’t only an elite quarterback (leading the NFL in passer rating six times) back in the 1930’s and 1940’s, but also served as a defensive back and even a punter.
He was among the first-ever group of players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.