Dan Sileo's Top 6 Game-Changing NFL Quarterbacks Unveiled

And the NFL Network asked me to put my top five. And I always say, well, I'm always gonna put an outlier. So what I did was I put my top six quarterbacks. In the history of the National Football League, and quarterbacks that I think are game changers. Now look, Marino and guys like Johnny Unitas are not on this list. But here are the big sales. Top six quarterbacks. And I'm gonna start from the bottom. I'm gonna start with John Elway. What made John Elway, and I had a chance to play against John Elway. What made him electric was that his ability, his athleticism, the way he saw defenses. I remember getting to the line of scrimmage at Old Mile High Stadium. And I'm standing there when I was with the Dallas Cowboys. And right before the snap of the football, John Elway was doing this. Hut, hut, hut, hut, hut. He got me off sides twice. He gained his football team 20 yards on guys like me jumping off sides. And he did that numerous times. One of the greatest guys when it came to cadence on helping his football team get cheap yards. And one of the greatest arms of all time. There'll never be another Elway. When you talk about athleticism, John Elway is arguably one of the greatest players in the history of the sport to ever play the game. And then you put his tremendous guile in how he won football games. And what made him even more of a leader. At the end of his career, Elway did what? He took a second seat to Terrell Davis and allowed that football team to be a running attack and said, you know what, I'll be the caboose now where he was the engine in the first three Super Bowls where they went 0-3. John Elway goes down as one of the greatest field generals of all time. Steve Young, kind of a funny relationship that I have with Steve. I played high school football against Steve Young when he was at Greenwich, Connecticut and I was at Stanford Catholic. Then we had a chance to meet up in the pros when he was with the San Francisco 49ers and I was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You talk about a guy with athleticism, 4'5 speed, one of the most accurate quarterbacks of all time, one of the toughest guys of all time. There used to be a thing back in the day when folks were saying that, you know what, hey look, don't get Montana hurt because really nobody wanted to go out and nobody wanted to see Steve Young because of the athleticism that he had. Not one of the greatest players of all time. I gotta put Peyton Manning in here. You know, when Peyton Manning came out and people were saying between him and Ryan Leaf, there was a big argument. Ryan Leaf had the more skills and the better arm and what did Peyton Manning do? Peyton Manning worked at it. Reggie Wayne, who's a Miami Hurricane, told me that they would practice two hours before each and every single game and they would be on the field having played a game prior to the game and his preparation for an upcoming football game is second to none. One of the greatest arms of all time and one of the greatest field generals. I got him at number four. Number three is Patrick Mahomes. Talk about an ambidextrous quarterback right now. You're looking at a quarterback here that could just absolutely do everything. No lead is safe with him. He is by far maybe one of the most athletic guys that we've ever seen on the field at any position and then you have the brilliance of Andy Reid teaching him the position. Just truly one of the great quarterbacks. Ambidextrous. You see him throwing with left and right hands. Truly great. And I will put at number two is Tom Brady. Listen, I got Brady at two. You're talking about a guy who looks like he has an Ichabod Crane body and without a doubt here, here was a guy that wasn't thought of. People at Michigan didn't really like him. Lloyd Carr was constantly trying to replace him. He just goes on to be the best winner in the history of the sport and winning those seven Super Bowls and I've gotta say Montana. I had the privilege of playing against Joe Montana. Montana, there is no doubt in my opinion, he's 135 quarterback rating in the Super Bowl, 4-0. He's like the Michael Jordan of Super Bowls. He beat Elway and Marino in those Super Bowls and we're talking about a guy who took a beating. Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, knocked the crap out of this guy and he still won. Can you imagine a guy like Montana? And by the way, I don't really think this is close. Montana, could you imagine in a game where you didn't hit him or Jerry Rice? And let's not forget that first Super Bowl. He won a Super Bowl with Freddie Solomon and a guy named Bert Cooper and Wendell Tyler. He didn't win it with guys that were Hall of Fame players. He didn't have Jerry Rice on that first team. So there's my six. Montana, Brady, Holmes at three, Peyton Manning at four, Steve Young at five, John Elway at six.