New England Patriots Top 5 Quarterbacks of All Time

(last updated on February 10, 2026)

From 1960 to 2000, the New England Patriots never won a championship. Since 2001, they have won six Lombardi Trophies (tied with the Steelers for the most in NFL history). That’s what happens when possibly the greatest coach ever and likely the greatest quarterback ever are paired together. A pioneer member of the AFL in 1960, the Pats and the rest of the league officially merged with the NFL in 1970. Prior to the Belichick-Brady era, the team did have 10 playoff appearances and reached two Super Bowls. So, they weren’t a terrible franchise, but since the start of this century, the Patriots have been the model franchise in the league. After a few down years following the legendary duo, they just returned to the Super Bowl with a young franchise quarterback, so happy days could be here again in New England. Leave your under-inflated footballs and secret camera equipment at home because it’s time to present the top quarterbacks of all time for the New England Patriots.

In the historic 1983 NFL Draft, five QBs were first-round picks, three became Hall of Famers, and one that didn’t get to Canton still gets a place with the all-time quarterbacks of the New England Patriots. That one is Tony Eason. Before we lump him in with Todd Blackledge, let’s remember this man got the Pats to their first Super Bowl. His first year as the full-time starter in 1984 yielded nice results: 3,228 yards passing, 23 TDs to only 8 INTs, and a league-best 1.9 INT %. Although his 1985 regular season wasn’t as productive, his postseason made up for it. He led New England to three road wins on the path to Super Bowl XX. In those victories, he collectively had a 121.8 passer rating and 5 TD tosses with 0 picks. The Super Bowl was a different story for Tony as he got pulled quickly after some early struggles, but getting there was no small feat. Eason had another decent season in 1986 and was actually sixth in MVP voting. After that, this 1983 first rounder’s career slowly flamed out, but Tony Eason certainly accomplished enough to be called one of the top quarterbacks in New England Patriots history.

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In New England’s formative years in the AFL, they had a pretty reliable man behind center: Babe Parilli. This guy was the Patriots first great quarterback. From 1961 to 1967, this QB had a 44-32-7 as the starter for a then-young franchise. In 1963, he threw for 300 and two TDs in a Divisional Round win at Buffalo to get the Patriots to the AFL Championship Game. Although the Pats lost, Babe took momentum into 1964 for his best season. He was a First-Team All-Pro selection as he led the AFL in both passing yards (3,465) and TD passes (31). With 16,747 passing yards and 132 TD tosses, The Babe still sits 4th in all-time franchise rankings. Three Pro Bowl nods also validate Parilli’s time in Boston. To cap off his career, he was the backup to Joe Namath in the monumental Super Bowl III victory for the New York Jets. Young fans probably aren’t familiar with Babe Parilli, but he was an all-time quarterback for the New England Patriots.

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Steve Grogan spent 16 years in the NFL … all of them as a New England Patriot. Not bad for a fifth-round pick out of Kansas State. I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that Grogan threw more touchdowns for the Patriots than Drew Bledsoe (182 to 166). We won’t discuss the TD-INT ratio though. Anyway, from 1975 to 1990, Grogan appeared in at least three games every season for New England. In ‘76 and ‘78, the team went to the playoffs behind him, and then he led the NFL with 28 TD tosses and 16.0 Y/C in ‘79. The last several years in New England Steve was relegated to backup status; however, he entered Super Bowl XX in relief capacity and was responsible for the Patriots only touchdown in a 46-10 loss to the Bears. #14’s 75-60 record as the team’s starting QB is only behind one man in New England history. If you spend a decade and a half with one NFL franchise, then you get placed with the best quarterbacks ever for that team … that’s the case with Steve Grogan and the New England Patriots.

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How would NFL history be different if Drew Bledsoe had not taken that vicious hit from Mo Lewis early in the 2001 season? Nobody can say, but we can definitely say Drew Bledsoe was one of the top quarterbacks of all time for the New England Patriots. The top overall pick in the 1993 draft was a true slinger in the pocket. He repeatedly aired it out in 1994 with an NFL-high 4,555 passing yards and 400 completions. That was the first of three straight years Drew led the league in pass attempts, so he threw the pigskin … a lot. The Pats did get to the playoffs three times with this fine wine purveyor, including a run to Super Bowl XXXI. Besides his rookie season and his injury-shortened 2001 year, this Washington State product threw for at least 3,200 yards every year as a Patriot. It also needs to be noted that the first Belichick-Brady Super Bowl win never happens without Drew because he delivered a clutch performance for an injured TB12 in the 2001 AFC Championship Game at Pittsburgh. History won’t remember Drew Bledsoe as fondly as his successor, but he cracked the all-time top 30 in both passing yards (44,611) and passing TDs (251), and he also cracked the list of all-time quarterbacks for the New England Patriots.

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If you couldn’t figure out the final QB on this list, then you can’t be much of a football fan. Tom Brady, the presumptive top quarterback of all time for the New England Patriots, can also make a very strong claim to being the GOAT. Among other categories, he is the league’s all-time leader in passing yards (89,214), passing touchdowns (649), completions (7,753), games started (333) and Lombardi Trophies (7). Of those Super Bowl wins, six came with the Patriots, and Brady was the MVP four times (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, & LI). From 2001-2019, Tom Terrific led New England to the playoffs 17 out of 19 years, 13 AFC title games, and 9 Super Bowl appearances. Statistically, since we only have one paragraph, let’s just focus on Tom’s MVP 2007 season. The QB’s team was undefeated until the Super Bowl, and he led the league in completion % (68.9), passing yards (4,806), TD passes (50), and passer rating (117.2). Since TB12 became the starter, another notable Brady stat is that with the exception of 2008 (the year he lost to a major knee injury) and his four-game suspension in 2016, he started all 16 games each season as a Patriot. Tom Brady led New England through the most dominant run in NFL history, and I can’t see anyone refuting him as the greatest quarterback in Patriots history.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2025 at 4:52 pm and is filed under NFL History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.