Brett Favre retires: Where does he rank all-time?
Mar 4th, 2008 by Bill Burt
We will have more on Brett Favre’s announcement today, which is a tad surprising, that he is retiring. I still don’t believe it. But let’s leave that for another day.
Where does he rank among retired quarterbacks, leaving Tom Brady and Peyton Manning out of it?
Give me your top 10, which I believe he must be in, and let’s debate it.
Quickly, here are my top 10 (I am open to movement here):
1. Joe Montana … Simply the best
2. Johnny Unitas … Maybe the best leader
3. John Elway … Made good teams great
4. Dan Marino … Maybe the greatest passer
5. Brett Favre … Too many off years, but ended with bang
6. Terry Bradshaw … In his era, he was best
7. Troy Aikman … Maybe the most accurate and a winner
8. Bart Starr … Best of his era, not athletic as these guys
9. Roger Staubach … Smart, tough and a favorite of mine
10. Steve Young … Behind only Elway in athleticism
Honorable mention: Otto Graham (One of early greats); Jim Kelly (Very good, but …); Fran Tarkenton (Was Flutie before Flutie)
14 reader comments to “Brett Favre retires: Where does he rank all-time?”
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1David said:
I would put Favre ahead of Marino. I just think he was a better quarterback. As you said, Marino was probably the greatest passer.
As for the first four, I would have Elway No. 2. I’m not sure about Unitas. My father says he was the greatest, so I guess he deserves to be there somewhere.
I like Favre at No. 4 -
2Bobby said:
I have Favre ahead of everyone except Montana.
He never missed a game. He won three MVPs and he won a Super Bowl. -
3Max Kliman said:
I have Favre 4th or 5th. I’m not sure if I should put him ahead of Marino. I think Marino was a little bit better but he didn’t win a Super Bowl and Favre did.
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4Bobby said:
Max, you are correct, sir. Favre is one of the all-time greats. I would put him ahead of Elway because of three MVPs. Elway did go to five Super Bowls, winning the last two. I could live with Elway two and Favre at three.
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5Hugh said:
Like many other similar lists, it’s as if the NFL began with Super Bowl I. We may all be too young to have seen them play, but Sammy Baugh and Otto Graham deserve to be in the top ten. They were innovators who revolutionized the position, light years ahead of their peers.
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6Mike Daly said:
Drew Bledsoe’s playoff record of 4-3 is a better winning percentage than Marino’s 8-10 and Favre’s 12-10 - what does that say about Favre?
You cannot rank Favre about multi-time Superbowl winners like Bradshaw (four), Aikman (three), and Staubach (two) when Favre won just one thanks to Desmond Howard and Bill Parcells (Favre would have been shredded 35-0 by a Belichick-Brady team in the Superbowl) and threw more picks than TDs in his final ten playoff games.
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7Dave said:
I would most certaintly put Favre ahead of Marino but I go back and forth about Elway. However, was there anybody that was ever more fun to watch than Favre. Not only did he take all the chances, but he looked like was playing high school football the entire time. I will surely miss him, his enthusiasm, and that arm.
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8Bobby said:
This is not about entertainment, because if it was I would put Favre maybe at No. 1. He just threw too many dam interceptions, stupid interceptions.
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9Mike Daly said:
I hear the same thing from the Favre rumpswabs - “He was fun to watch, his enthusiasm was superb, his arm was superb….”
Real quarterbacks play to win, not for fun; they play to advance the ball, not for enthusiasm; they play to score, not to produce statistics. Favre was never a real quarterback even though he won so much in the regular season.
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10Jim-red sox nation west said:
Spikes is available..is that something the Pats look at?
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11Dave said:
Mike, Your going to put Marino infront of Favre becasue Favre was never a real quarterback because he only won in the regular season?? Where is that logic coming from. Last time I checked, Favre won a superbowl and Marino didn’t.
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12Mike Daly said:
Dave, I’m not putting Marino over Favre in any context.
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13Mike Daly said:
BTW, I’ve seen NFL Network’s reair of SB 31 at least three times now since Favre retired. The only good thing there aside from Patriot touchdowns was the uniforms - can they go back to the unis used 1996-9 instead of these duller blue ones?
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14tim said:
mike daly, those may be the dumbest words ive ever heard about football. real qb’s dont play for fun?! he was never a real quarteback?! ok, obviously you werent a packer or favre fan which is fine, but to say such stupid things about rating a qb?! you have to look at the stats.. u have to look at the supporting cast they had throughout their careers.. you have to look at leadership and being able to create something out of nothing… consistency.. there’s so more to it than just stats. even though when it comes to the stats, he pretty much had all of them. the people that look at him and say ” he only won one super bowl” arent looking at the big picture.
