Top 25 Quarterbacks by Y/A+

A quick note, first off. In all these rankings, we'll only be considering quarterbacks who reached a threshold of 2000 career pass attempts. This is arbitrary, but necessary to keep the numbers from becoming unmanageable. In fact, there have been 126 passers who have reached 2000 attempts in NFL/AFL/AAFC history, and will be considered for these lists. In fact, a list of the top 25 passers in any category represents almost 20% of the eligible quarterbacks.

Players will be listed in ascending order, with their Y/A+ rating behind them. Hall of Famers are in bold. Players who are currently active, or were active recently enough that they are not yet eligible for the Hall are in italics.

25) Tom Brady - 109
24) Dan Marino - 109
23) Ken Stabler - 110
22) Ken Anderson - 110
21) Johnny Unitas - 110
20) Earl Morrall - 111
19) Lynn Dickey - 111
18) Bart Starr - 111
17) Bob Griese - 111
16) Joe Montana - 111
15) Craig Morton - 112
14) Jim Kelly - 112
13) Steve Grogan - 113
12) Len Dawson - 113
11) Daunte Culpepper - 114
10) Norm Van Brocklin - 115
9) Roger Staubach - 115
8) Sammy Baugh - 115
7) Trent Green - 115
6) Dan Fouts - 116
5) Peyton Manning - 116
4) Ben Roethlisberger - 120
3) Kurt Warner - 120
2) Steve Young - 123
1) Otto Graham - 129

Some names will probably surprise people. Lynn Dickey right next to Bart Starr? That will certainly shock some Packer fans. Steve Grogan? Yes, I think that will surprise some people.

Still, there are 25 Hall of Famers who are eligible for these lists. 13 of them made the list, and the group that just missed includes more, including Joe Namath and Terry Bradshaw, who have the same 109 as Marino and Brady. (Ties are broken in favor of the player with more attempts, favoring those with greater longevity.) Of the other 14 on the list, there are a couple of slam dunk HOFers, a few more current/recent players who have a good argument, and some good QBs who didn't or won't make the Hall of Fame cut. This is the passing stat that is considered to be the most important, and it certainly looks as though we're measuring something pretty important here.

As for the surprises, well, this is why you shouldn't use just one stat when you can use many. Is Steve Grogan one of the top 25 quarterbacks of all time? Probably not, but he does very well with this particular piece of the puzzle, and that's worth knowing.