NFL icon and Tom Brady's inspiration questions GOAT status with honest admission

31 August 2023 , 12:51

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Tom Brady's idol, Joe Montana, has named a different quarterback as the 'best' QB of all time (Image: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

NFL legend Joe Montana has named who he thinks is the “best” quarterback to ever play the game, and it’s not Tom Brady.

Montana himself is widely regarded as one of the best QBs ever to step onto a football field. Now 67, he won four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers across the 1980s and into 1990.

Many have argued that Brady is one of, if not the best quarterback ever to play the game. He has seven Super Bowl rings to his name, with six triumphs coming with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.

Growing up in California, Brady saw Montana as his idol when he started playing football at a young age. But it seems that Brady’s hero does not see the former Patriots star as the best quarterback of all time.

That honour, for Montana, goes to Miami Dolphins legend Dan Marino. He may not have the Super Bowl rings to compete with the likes of Brady and Montana, but he is also considered in the elite group of the best players ever to feature at quarterback, having won the league’s MVP award in 1984.

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Brady leads the NFL in all-time passing yards with 89,214, while Marino is eighth on the list with 61,361 yards. To put that into context, that is more than the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford, John Elway, and Montana himself.

Montana and Marino were on opposite sides in Super Bowl XIX, which saw the Niners beat the Dolphins in 1985. But the former San Francisco star has explained why he thinks Marino is the best QB ever to play the game.

“Put Marino into today's game where he gets free release, and his receivers, holy cow, weren't very big,” Montana told Men’s Health. “'Now these guys are 6'4, 6'5. I think [Marino] is probably one of the most unsung heroes of the game.

“People don't talk enough about him or realise the numbers that he put up during the times that he put them up.”

Montana went into further detail about why he rated Marino so highly as a quarterback. Despite the duo being great rivals in the 1980s, Montana clearly has high levels of respect for his former opponent.

“He had a quick release,” said Montana, speaking about Marino’s throwing ability. “I had to step into a lot of things to get enough [force] on the ball. He had the perfect torque of his upper body and strength to deliver the ball quickly at a fast release with accuracy.”

Mark Wakefield