The NFL is littered with the most talented young crop of quarterbacks we’ve ever seen. From unequivocal superstars Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson to rookie sensations Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow, this youth movement in 2020 has given us some of the most explosive offensive play in football history.
But while Mahomes drops dimes and Jackson runs roughshod, it’s actually the old, grizzled veterans who still sit atop the standings across the league. Sure, they don’t dazzle quite as much as they did in their prime, and their bones may creak and ache much more than they used to, but the elder statesmen of the NFL have all maintained their spot near the top despite the surge of underclassmen looking to dethrone them.
You still have to respect your quarterback elders.
At the top of the heap stands Tom Brady, whose 43-year-old body seems to age as if he’s Benjamin Button. Brady is having a legitimate MVP season right now, having thrown for 20 touchdowns and more than 2,000 yards to just four interceptions through the first eight weeks. He’s led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into first place in the NFC South while making some of the most impressive throws of his late career. Brady’s play has helped push the Bucs just a smidge ahead of the surging New Orleans Saints and fellow geezer Drew Brees, who seems to have weathered a serious storm early on to keep his status as one of the NFL’s most methodical quarterbacking machines.
Brees, 41, began the season in rough fashion but has since settled down into the pinpoint accurate passer he’s always been. Heading into Week 9, the future Hall of Famer has tossed 13 touchdowns to just three picks, leading the league in expected completion percentage at an eye-popping 71%. Brees has been the master of the two-minute drill in that time, scoring a touchdown on a mind-boggling five straight two-minute drives. The Saints have won four straight games, storming back from double-digit deficits in three of those matchups. Make no mistake: This isn’t your 2011 version of Brees, who threw for more than 5,000 yards, but he’s as efficient as ever and is winning games without Michael Thomas, the reigning offensive player of the year, who has been out with injuries since the start of Week 2. The old-timer can still dink and dunk with the best of them, and his competent play under center without turning the ball over makes him a valuable asset despite his old age.
Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, both 38, also maintained their status in the NFL’s top tier behind similarly stout offensive lines and a pair of menacing defenses that help mask the fact that both are closer than they’d like to admit to collecting Medicare. Roethlisberger, who acts like a deft point guard dishing dimes to his coterie of skill talent, has thrown for 15 touchdowns, leading the Steelers to a 7-0 record through the first eight weeeks. Rivers, whose ball has faded in recent years, is still running around on your RedZone channel late on Sunday afternoons as he helps thrust the Indianapolis Colts into AFC South contention.
These four quarterbacks have combined for a 23-6 record so far, catapulting each of their respective teams firmly into the playoff picture as we head into the halfway point of the season. Even as players like Mahomes and Burrow highlight the NFL’s future, the present still belongs to the names we all know.
Each aging star mans a team stacked with talent and coated in depth, a combination that allows them to slow the aging process down to the point where sometimes you can’t even tell the four are all 40-ish years old.
They may still listen to Pearl Jam and prefer physical copies of DVDs, but the NFL’s fellowship of aging stars can still play with enough poise to make a deep run at the Super Bowl.
The only thing they might not be able to do is set up a Snapchat account.
Cory Gunkel is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.
