Where Drew Brees belongs on the all-time greatest NFL QBs list

Is he among the GOATs?

What a night for Drew Brees.

In a Week 15 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints legend smashed the NFL record for career passing touchdowns with 541 and had an all-timer of a game — he set the league record for single-game completion percentage by going 29-of-30, missing one pass to Latavius Murray in the flat.

This seems like a good time to explore where Brees might belong on the all-time greatest quarterbacks list, but the wild thing is he’s 40 years old and has shown no signs that he’s lost the skills that have made him one of the best to line up on under center. So writing this now feels a little incomplete and needs to be revisited when his career is over.

Let’s start with the other GOATs: Tom Brady and Joe Montana probably deserve the top two spots because of their stats and postseason performances. I still believe Peyton Manning deserves a top spot even though fans might argue he won one ring with the Colts and then wasn’t that great the second time he won a Super Bowl, with the Broncos. But whatever. The guy was the most brilliant at the position and an incredible thrower, a FIVE-TIME MVP for crying out loud.

This is where I wonder if Brees can get his way into No. 4 or 5. Some names to consider — if Dan Marino had played in the 2000s, would he have smashed the records Brees is breaking? John Elway was consistently great and he won two rings to cement his status as an all-timer. There are two quarterbacks I never got to see play — Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr — who are in the running, and I tend to lean toward Unitas as belonging in the top five because he was ahead of his time and was arguably the best passer of his era.

Which brings me back to Brees. The strange thing to me is we haven’t necessarily had this conversation until recently. Maybe it’s because we’re in the golden age of quarterbacks? Or perhaps because he’s only won one ring, but he’s been consistently close to more and might have another couple on his fingers had the Saints not suffered some soul-crushing losses in recent playoffs.

My ultimate theory: he was consistently great in an era when others around him were unreal. And we’re forgetting that consistency is sometimes more valuable than explosiveness, although let’s remember he’s led the league in passing yards seven times, touchdown passes four times and yards per game six times. On Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value chart, he’s third behind Brady and Manning.

So fifth all-time might be his place in history, and his career isn’t over yet. The way the Saints are playing, maybe another ring is in his future, further cementing an already-incredible legacy.

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