QB finalists for NFL All-Time Team announced

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Tom Brady and Joe Montana already made the team. Brett Favre, John Elway, Peyton Manning and Dan Marino are finalists, along with 18 other quarterbacks.

The NFL released its list of 22 quarterback finalists for its NFL 100 All-Time Team on Monday. The league is celebrating its 100th year by naming the top 100 players and 10 coaches of all time. It is part of a six-week process, where a 26-person blue-ribbon voting panel comprised of coaches, team and front office executives, former players and media members select the league's elite.

The NFL has been releasing the top 10 at each position. Brady, who has appeared in nine Super Bowls with the New England Patriots -- winning six -- was already named to the team, along with Montana, the San Francisco 49ers signal-caller who won four Vince Lombardi trophies. Favre threw for 71,838 regular-season yards and five touchdowns, appearing in two Super Bowls and winning one.

Manning threw for 71,519 yards and 539 touchdowns while appearing in four Super Bowls, winning twice. Marino lost in his only Super Bowl appearance but threw for 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns in 1984, which were NFL records at the time.

The careers of those quarterbacks will be weighed against others for the final eight spots, which will be named Friday at 8 p.m. on NFL Network, the league announced.

The choices won’t be easy. Bradshaw led the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles during the 1970s. Elway played in four Super Bowls, winning two of them. Troy Aikman won three Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys during the 1990s.

Drew Brees, who along with Brady and Aaron Rodgers are the only current quarterbacks to make the finalist list, is currently the NFL’s all-time touchdown passing leader with 544. Brady is tied for second with Favre.

Johnny Unitas, the face of quarterbacks in the NFL during the late 1950s and 1960s, is also a finalist. Others making the cut include Sammy Baugh, Dan Fouts, Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Sid Luckman, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkenton, Norm Van Brocklin and Steve Young.

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