Saints' Drew Brees Passes John Elway for 4th on All-Time Passing Yards List

Though he was unable to secure the win, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees passed John Elway for fourth place on the NFL's all-time passing yards list during Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Brees now has 51,651 career passing yards, putting him 176 ahead of Elway, who threw for each of his 51,475 yards as a member of the Denver Broncos. Sitting ahead of Brees are Brett Favre (71,838), Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (65,475) and Dan Marino (61,131).

Already a popular name near the top of the single-season record lists, the 35-year-old Brees also ranks fourth all time in completions (4,537) and touchdown passes (366), nestled between Marino and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in both categories.

Brees ranks a somewhat less prolific seventh in career passer rating (95.2), a statistic dominated by active players. Five of the six quarterbacks ahead of Brees are still playing, including all-time leader Aaron Rodgers (104.7) and somewhat surprisingly Tony Romo (95.4).

With Brees sitting nearly 10,000 yards shy of third-place Marino, it may be a while before the Saints signal-caller hits his next major milestone. He also trails Marino by 54 touchdowns and is 430 completions shy of the former Dolphin.

All stats courtesy of Pro-football-reference.com unless otherwise noted.