The top quarterbacks of the last 20 years aren't who you'd think

Football has seen a lot of great quarterbacks over the last two decades but there are a few players that rose above the rest. We took a look at the stats with help from Pro Football Reference and weighed on-field performance to create this short list of the best QBs from the last 20 years.

Kurt Warner often flies under the radar of football fans but he should be considered one of the best quarterbacks of the modern era just based on his impressive performance with the St. Louis Rams during Super Bowl XXXIV. 

Warner threw 32,344 passing yards in his day and 208 touchdowns, which is probably why he’s got two Super Bowl titles and so many MVP awards under his belt.

Philip Rivers never made it to a single Super Bowl but he still had an extremely impressive career based on his stats. Over the course of 17 seasons, Rivers threw 63,440 passing yards as well as 421 touches and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl eight times.  

Ben Roethlisberger might have led the Pittsburgh Steelers to two Super Bowl wins but it was career stats that were what truly solidified him as an all-time great. Over the course of 18 seasons, Roethlisberger threw 64,088 passing yards and 418 touchdowns. 

Eli Manning was a beast in his day. He never missed a day of play due to injury and still holds the third-longest consecutive start streak for a quarterback in NFL according to his Wikipedia page. 

If we look at Manning’s stats, the former Giants QB threw 57,023 passing yards in his day as well as 366 touchdowns, not to mention his two Super Bowl wins and title — which is more than enough to make him one of the best NFL QBs of the last twenty years.

Aaron Rodgers has definitely gone off the deep end in recent years but his football game has stayed consistent over the course of his 19 seasons career. 

To date, Rodgers has thrown 59,055 yards and 475 touchdowns, which is pretty darn impressive considering he only has one Super Bowl title. While 2023 didn't go his way, according to the Bleacher Report, it's only pushed him to go out with a bang in 2024/25, so we'll see what happens there.  

If you have to choose a Manning brother to lead your franchise then there’s absolutely no way you’re picking Eli over Payton. Payton Manning threw 71,940 yards over the course of his career as well as 539 touchdowns. 

Payton also played in an impressive 14 Pro Bowls, made four Super Bowl appearances, and won twice with the wins happening nearly a decade apart. Beyond the last two quarterbacks on this list, there are few QBs that could rival Payton’s talent on the field.  

Drew Brees was a quarterback unlike any other of his generation and he was able to consistently rack up points every season because of the way he maneuvered at the line of skirmish according to a 2009 Bleacher Report article. 

Brees ended his career with a total of 80,358 passing yards and 571 touchdown throws, which is why he should be considered one of the all-time greats from this era. 

Brees really didn’t make name for himself until he was picked up by the New Orleans Saints. In his first year with the Saints, he lead the franchise to its first NFC Championship game —a game they lost —and later went on to lead the Saints to their first Super Bowl franchise win in 2010. 

Tom Brady played 23 seasons of professional football and threw 89,214 passing yards and 649 touchdowns. He won seven Super Bowl championships and had 233 career wins. 

Even if you don’t like the guy, you have to admit, he’s not only the greatest quarterback of the modern era, but probably the greatest quarterback of all time. 

Brett Farve was tough to exclude from this list because he was still playing at such a high level even into the 2000s. So why not give him a spot? Farve threw 71,83 yards plus an impressive 508 touchdowns in his career and won one Super Bowl title. Farve was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.