Tom Brady‘s career in the National Football League spanned 23 years and included numerous accolades with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During his time in the league, Brady reached the playoffs 18 times, won 17 American Football Conference titles, nine conference championships, and six Super Bowls with the Patriots. After joining the Buccaneers at age 43, he led them to their second-ever Super Bowl title.
Brady retired in 2023 as the all-time leader in several statistical categories, including wins, completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. His achievements include ten Super Bowl appearances, seven Super Bowl titles, 15 Pro Bowl selections, three Most Valuable Player awards from the league, and five Super Bowl MVPs.
Despite these accomplishments, Washington Commanders linebacker Von Miller holds a different view regarding who is the greatest quarterback of all time. Miller said in a recent interview that Peyton Manning stands above Brady in his personal ranking.
Miller explained his reasoning by saying: “Obviously, there’s gonna be a debate between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who was the best. For me, it’ll always be Peyton Manning. He changed the quarterback position [in terms of] changing the play. He wasn’t scrambling or doing none of that stuff. He did it all with his arm, and it was beautiful, man.”
Peyton Manning’s own record includes five regular-season MVP awards—a record—four Super Bowl appearances with two titles (each with a different franchise), and seven First-team All-Pro honors. Over his career from 1998 to 2015, Manning posted a starter record of 186–79 and passed for over seventy-one thousand yards.
Brady’s postseason records remain stronger than Manning’s in completion percentage, passer rating, touchdown-to-interception ratio during playoffs and especially Super Bowls. However, Miller added details about Manning’s influence off-the-field as well: “He knew every single guy in the facility, whether it was the janitors, all the coaches. He had a personal relationship with everybody. He was truly the first person in the building. Whenever you pulled up, you’d see his Buick because he had the Buick deal. I had a fundraiser event for Von’s Vision, he was there. He was all about his guys, all about his teammates.”
The debate over football’s greatest quarterbacks continues among players and analysts alike.
