Earlier in the week I ran an item about how Tom Brady got better with age as an NFL (and fantasy) quarterback. He's without question the best of the old-man quarterbacks we've ever seen, and no doubt will ever see. But he's not the only one.
Brett Favre, most will recall, also had several really good years at the end of his career. His last year in Green Bay, his first year with the Vikings, and a couple others -- he was a top-11 fantasy quarterback in four straight seasons until his final-year crash back to Earth in Minnesota.
Only one other aged quarterback (for the purposes of this factoid, I pulled the numbers for all quarterbacks 37 years old and up) has had four top-15 fantasy seasons in his career, using a scoring system with 4-point touchdown passes and 1 point for every 20 passing yards and 10 rushing yards, with 6-point rushing touchdowns. That was Warren Moon (pictured), who did it with the Vikings for a couple of those seasons.
Table shows all top-15 fantasy seasons from quarterbacks 37 years old or older. There have been 42 such seasons, 7 by Brady. Rodgers, if he plays a couple more years, could be the fourth member of that exclusive group.
TOP-15 FANTASY SEASONS, AGED QUARTERBACKS (37-PLUS YEARS OLD) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Age | Pass | PaTD | Run | RuTD | FF Pts | Rk |
2013 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 37 | 5477 | 55 | -31 | 1 | 498.8 | 1 |
1998 | Steve Young, S.F. | 37 | 4170 | 36 | 454 | 6 | 441.9 | 1 |
2015 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 38 | 4770 | 36 | 53 | 3 | 410.4 | 2 |
2016 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 37 | 5208 | 37 | 20 | 2 | 422.4 | 2 |
2002 | Rich Gannon, Oak. | 37 | 4689 | 26 | 156 | 3 | 376.1 | 2 |
2017 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 40 | 4577 | 32 | 28 | 0 | 363.7 | 3 |
1995 | Warren Moon, Min. | 39 | 4228 | 33 | 82 | 0 | 351.6 | 3 |
2014 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 38 | 4727 | 39 | -24 | 0 | 394.0 | 3 |
2020 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 37 | 4299 | 48 | 149 | 3 | 440.3 | 3 |
1993 | Warren Moon, Hou. | 37 | 3485 | 21 | 145 | 1 | 278.8 | 3 |
1978 | Fran Tarkenton, Min. | 38 | 3468 | 25 | -6 | 1 | 278.8 | 4 |
1997 | John Elway, Den. | 37 | 3635 | 27 | 218 | 1 | 319.6 | 4 |
2008 | Kurt Warner, Ariz. | 37 | 4583 | 30 | -2 | 0 | 351.0 | 4 |
1979 | Roger Staubach, Dall. | 37 | 3586 | 27 | 172 | 0 | 304.5 | 4 |
2021 | Tom Brady, T.B. | 44 | 5316 | 43 | 81 | 2 | 457.9 | 4 |
1994 | Warren Moon, Min. | 38 | 4264 | 18 | 55 | 0 | 296.7 | 5 |
2020 | Tom Brady, T.B. | 43 | 4633 | 40 | 6 | 3 | 410.3 | 7 |
1997 | Warren Moon, Sea. | 41 | 3678 | 25 | 40 | 1 | 293.9 | 7 |
2009 | Brett Favre, Min. | 40 | 4202 | 33 | 7 | 0 | 343.6 | 7 |
2007 | Brett Favre, G.B. | 38 | 4155 | 28 | 12 | 0 | 321.0 | 7 |
1999 | Doug Flutie, Buff. | 37 | 3171 | 19 | 476 | 1 | 288.2 | 7 |
2006 | Brett Favre, G.B. | 37 | 3885 | 18 | 29 | 1 | 275.2 | 8 |
2021 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 38 | 4115 | 37 | 101 | 3 | 381.9 | 8 |
2018 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 39 | 3992 | 32 | 22 | 4 | 356.9 | 9 |
1998 | Dan Marino, Mia. | 37 | 3497 | 23 | -3 | 1 | 272.6 | 10 |
2018 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 37 | 4308 | 32 | 7 | 0 | 354.1 | 10 |
2008 | Brett Favre, NYJ | 39 | 3472 | 22 | 43 | 1 | 274.1 | 11 |
2017 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 38 | 4334 | 23 | 12 | 2 | 321.9 | 11 |
1991 | Steve DeBerg, K.C. | 37 | 2965 | 17 | -15 | 0 | 214.8 | 11 |
2014 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 37 | 4109 | 33 | 57 | 0 | 343.2 | 11 |
2000 | Vinny Testaverde, NYJ | 37 | 3732 | 21 | 32 | 0 | 277.8 | 11 |
1995 | Dave Krieg, Ariz. | 37 | 3554 | 16 | 29 | 0 | 254.6 | 12 |
2018 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 41 | 4355 | 29 | 35 | 2 | 350.9 | 13 |
1994 | Joe Montana, K.C. | 38 | 3283 | 16 | 17 | 0 | 231.9 | 13 |
2009 | Kurt Warner, Ariz. | 38 | 3753 | 26 | 10 | 0 | 292.7 | 13 |
2019 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 38 | 4615 | 23 | 29 | 0 | 327.7 | 13 |
1970 | Johnny Unitas, Balt. | 37 | 2213 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 168.3 | 13 |
2020 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 38 | 3803 | 33 | 11 | 0 | 327.3 | 14 |
1998 | John Elway, Den. | 38 | 2806 | 22 | 94 | 1 | 246.1 | 14 |
1993 | Phil Simms, NYG | 38 | 3038 | 15 | 31 | 0 | 215.4 | 14 |
2019 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 42 | 4057 | 24 | 34 | 3 | 322.3 | 15 |
1981 | Craig Morton, Den. | 38 | 3195 | 21 | 18 | 0 | 245.6 | 15 |
--Andy Richardson