1. Johnny Unitas: "Johnny U" is an idol in Baltimore. He has a statue outside of M & T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens play.
Born in 1933 in Pittsburgh, he attended Louisville, and was drafted in the ninth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Because football salaries weren't nearly as lucrative, he worked construction during the weekend to support his family, and played on a local semi-pro team for $6 a game.
In 1956, he finally got a legitimate shot, but this time with Weeb Ewbank's Baltimore Colts.
He took over as full-time starter the next year, and he became an elite and is the best—ever. He won Super Bowl V, won the NFL Championship twice, including one in 1958 that is dubbed as the "Greatest Game Ever." He made 10 Pro Bowls, won three MVPs (something only Brett Favre, Jim Brown, and Peyton Manning have done), and won 1970 NFL Man of the Year.
In his era, quarterbacks didn't play as much of a role, so it shows how good Unitas was when he threw 290 touchdown passes and has over 40,000 yards.
Stats: 40,239 yards, 290 TD, 253 INT, 118-64-4 record, 6-2 playoff record, 2 Championships, 1 Super Bowl.
2. Joe Montana: It's hard to argue anything Montana accomplished in his career. He was, is, and always will be the face of the San Francisco 49ers, and he's literally the reason for four of the team's five Super Bowl rings.
He and head coach Bill Walsh formed a bond comparable to that of Staubach-Landry and Brady-Belichick. And to think Montana was taken in the third round of the 1979 draft because he was "small," at 6'2", 205. He might have been "small," but his play towered above everyone else's.
He made eight Pro Bowls, three All Pro teams, won a whopping four Super Bowls, winning MVP in three of those games, won the AP NFL MVP twice, and is a Pro Football Hall of Famer, class of 2000.
What do we judge quarterbacks by? Playoff wins. Check. Dominance of an era. Check. Clutch ability. Check. "Joe Cool" had it all. He was 16-7 in the playoffs, and led one of the most famous drives in the history of the NFL, and that wasn't the only time he came up big in the clutch.
Stats: 40,551 yards, 273 TD, 139 INT, 117-47 record, 16-7 playoff record, 4 Super Bowls.
3. Roger Staubach: In the history of a proud Dallas Cowboys franchise, there have been two dynasties: one during the 1970s, and one during the 1990s. The 1970s team featured Hall of Famers, such as Roger Staubach.
Roger was a proud member of the Navy, and even served. In 1964, he was drafted by the Cowboys in the 10th round, which ranks as one of the best draft steals ever. I don't think you can give the guy enough credit. Where he took the Cowboys really sells itself.
In his first two years, he struggled, with three touchdowns, ten interceptions, but a 3-1 record.
From 1971 on, there was no looking back. He went 13-0 as a starter that year if you include the playoffs, and finished his career with an 85-29 regular season record and an 11-6 playoff record. He had a big arm, was accurate, had good decision making, but his mobility gets overlooked. In his playoff career, he had 2,791 yards and 24 touchdowns, and took his Cowboys to the top.
Stats: 22,700 yards, 153 TD, 109 INT, 85-29 record, 11-6 playoff record, 2 Super Bowls.
4. Otto Graham: Otto Graham was the ultimate athlete. He attended Northwestern University, where he was an All-American in basketball. By the time he finished his degree, he had lettered in basketball, baseball, and football.
He decided to pursue football at the next level, and many were interested in his services, including the Detroit Lions, who took him fourth overall in the 1944 draft. However, he was obligated to serve in the US Coast Guard, and then found time to play pro basketball for a year. He made his splash in 1946, and everyone heard it.
With the Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1955, he was a winner, and nothing less. To further examine that, he finished his rather short career with a 104-17-3 record, winning championships seven times in ten attempts.
In the three times he didn't win, he was playing in the game, but came up on the short end. His stats are good for the era he played in, and I don't think you can overrate just how good an athlete—namely, quarterback—Otto was.
Stats: 23,584 yards, 174 TD, 135 INT, 104-17-3 record, 9-3 playoff record, 7 Championships.
5. Peyton Manning: Peyton Manning has it all at quarterback. He's got size, a tremendous arm, good decision making, accuracy, and he's a football know-it-all. Coming out of Tennessee in 1998, there was much debate as to whether the Colts should draft Manning or Washington State's Ryan Leaf.
Obviously, the Colts got Peyton and made the right decision. Leaf is currently in jail, and threw 2.5 times more picks than TDs. Peyton has three MVPs, something only three other players have done, and is in good shape to win another this year.
For most of his career, there was a monkey on his back. People said he "couldn't win the big one". In fact, in his first five years in the league, he was a combined 0-3 in postseason play.
He shook that off in 2006, when he won the Super Bowl, beating three of the NFL's best (Ravens, Patriots, Bears) to do so. His career playoff record of 7-8 is shaky, but give him time. He was viewed as a "choker" just a few years ago, and I'm sure he'll add another ring to his name sooner rather than later.
Stats: 47,273 yards, 345 TD, 169 INT, 122-59 record, 7-8 playoff record, 1 Super Bowl.
6. Tom Brady: Tom is definitely Terrific. In his 10-year career, his success has been extremely surprising. At the University of Michigan, he went 20-5 as a starter, but he wasn't a hyped prospect.
To put it in perspective, he was the Andre Woodson (2008 sixth round draft pick, taken 198th overall by the Giants) of the 2000 draft. Brady never even made All Big Ten, earning an Honorable Mention twice. The Patriots decided to take him with the 199th overall pick in 2000, in the sixth round, to back up Drew Bledsoe.
A Bledsoe injury thrust Brady into play, and he hasn't looked back. He's been the ultimate winner, but his numbers have also looked good while doing it.
For example, in a 59-0 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week Six, he threw for six touchdowns, five in the second quarter. Brady is a smart quarterback. He knows how to utilize opposing defenses to his advantage, and knows how to build a bond on the field with his wide receivers.
For example, in a segment of 60 Minutes, Brady showed that he can tell wide receiver Deion Branch what route to run by just looking at him a certain way.
Stats: 28,170 yards, 209 TD, 88 INT, 91-26 record, 14-3 playoff record, 3 Super Bowls.
7. John Elway: Elway is truly an intriguing story. At the University of Stanford, he played both baseball and football. As a senior, he finished with a .361 average, nine homers, and 50 RBI. But on top of that, he was a stud quarterback. He was taken by the Baltimore Colts with the first overall pick of the 1983 draft, but John didn't feel the Colts set him up to be the quarterback he thought he could be.
And who can blame him for thinking that? After all, from 1978 to 1982, the Colts had 19 wins, as opposed to 62 losses. He was eventually traded to the Denver Broncos, where he became the quarterback he knew he could be.
He struggled as a rookie, with twice as many interceptions as touchdowns, but from then on, there was no looking back. He made the Pro Bowl nine times, and while he started his playoff career just 6-7, he rebounded in 1997 and 1998, winning Super Bowls both times.
Elway has it all. He won the 1987 MVP, was named Offensive Player of the Year twice, made the 1990s All Decade Team, made five All Pro teams, and had success beyond belief in the pros.
Stats: 51,475 yards, 300 TD, 226 INT, 148-82-1 record, 13-7 playoff record, 2 Super Bowls.
8. Dan Marino: In 1983, a draft that also included Jim Kelly and John Elway, Dan Marino was the last quarterback taken in the first round, selected 27th overall by the Miami Dolphins.
After a rather disappointing season at the University of Pittsburgh, rumor had it that injuries were limiting his mobility and could cause for some limitations in the future. Yeah, so much for that.
People can and will criticize Marino for never winning a Super Bowl. They can also criticize him for finishing a rather lackluster 8-10 in the postseason.
But if you give the guy considerable talent around him, he's a Super Bowl winner. In his career, he finished with 61,361 yards, second to Brett Favre, 420 touchdowns, also second to Favre, and had a solid 147-93 record. He's near the top for nearly every major quarterbacking category in NFL history.
You can't criticize him for that, and if you put him on better teams, he'd win a few Super Bowls.
Stats: 61,361 yards, 420 TD, 252 INT, 147-93 record, 8-10 playoff record, 0 Super Bowls.
9. Bart Starr: In 1956, the Packers drafted their future, AKA Bart Starr, with the 17th overall pick in the draft. Taken "low" as he was, he wasn't expected to be great. But, boy, was he.
At 6'1", 197, he wasn't very big, but his play stood tall above most. From 1956 to 1958, he didn't even look like an NFL quarterback, combining for 13 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, and a 3-15 starter's record. Vince Lombardi's arrival in 1959 changed all of that, though.
With Starr at the helm, the Packers were always in good hands. They won six division titles, five NFL Championships, and two Super Bowls. Starr, individually, was just as good. He finished with Super Bowl MVPs in Super Bowls I and II, won the MVP in 1966, made four Pro Bowls, and had a stone-cold playoff record of 9-1, losing once in 1960, but never again. He finished his career with a record of 94-57-6, and he's a very deserving Hall of Famer.
Stats: 24,718 yards, 152 TD, 138 INT, 94-57-6 record, 9-1 playoff record, 2 Super Bowls.
10. Steve Young: For years, Young was a dominant quarterback. He attended Brigham Young University, graduating in 1983. He finished his college career with 7,733 yards and 56 touchdowns, and he's been enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 1983, he signed a 10-year, $40M deal with the Los Angeles Express of the USFL. But that never panned out, and a year later, he was drafted by Tampa Bay in the Supplemental Draft. In '85 and '86, he struggled, combining for a 3-16 record, 11 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions. A trade to the 49ers jump started his career.
He was mainly to serve as a backup to Joe Montana, and he did that for a while—that is, until 1991. From 1991 to 1999, he was phenomenal.
In his first full year, he went 5-5 with 2,517 yards, 17 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. From 1992 to 1998, he finished with 77 wins, 24 losses, 24,266 yards, 188 touchdowns and 77 interceptions.
Heck, he even went 8-6 in playoff action, including a Super Bowl victory in 1994. He finished his career with 33,124 yards, an incredible 232-107 TD-INT ratio, and a 96.8 quarterback rating.
Stats: 33,124 yards, 232 TD, 107 INT, 94-49 record, 8-6 playoff record, 1 Super Bowl.
Honorable mention:
Terry Bradshaw: He's a great quarterback, and deserving of his Hall of Fame spot, but I'm not sure I'd want him as a quarterback on a team with an average defense. That's not to take anything away from Bradshaw, but his defense certainly helped him.
Brett Favre: I love Favre, but I don't think he's top ten because of bad decision making and he's not a very good playoff QB.
Warren Moon: Very good quarterback, but his 102-101 regular season record and 3-7 playoff record removes him from consideration of being top ten.
Troy Aikman: Definitely a Hall of Famer, but not quite top ten.
Joe Namath: Gets a lot of love for the upset in Super Bowl III, as he should, but he led the league in INTs four times and struggled with injuries.
Ken Stabler: The definition of clutch, but not the best during his era.
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