I’m old enough to remember when Fran Tarkenton was the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards. But as modern quarterbacks continue to re-write the NFL record book, Tarkenton’s total has now been surpassed six times.
The latest to top Tarkenton is Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who passed Tarkenton’s career total of 47,003 yards on Monday night against the Dolphins.
Brees is now in sixth place all time and a little over 2,000 yards behind Warren Moon (49,325) for fifth place all time. If he stays healthy Brees will surpass Moon this season, and Brees even has an outside chance of passing No. 4 John Elway’s total of 51,475 yards.
The all-time record belongs to Brett Favre, who passed for 71,838 yards in his NFL career. In second place is Dan Marino, at 61,361. Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning’s career total of 60,957 puts him within one good game of Marino, so Manning could be in second place as soon as Sunday.
Brees is passing well against Miami and has the Saints leading 14-3.