Ever stood at the bottom of a mountain and just felt small? That's basically the vibe when you look at the NFL record books for quarterbacks. Specifically, the list of all-time passing touchdown leaders is less of a leaderboard and more of a "Who's Who" of football gods who refused to age.
Honestly, we’ve entered an era where numbers that used to be legendary are now just... standard. Dan Marino’s 420 career touchdowns once looked like a skyscraper. Now? He’s been bumped down the list by guys who played well into their 40s. It’s wild.
The Mount Everest of Quarterback Stats
Tom Brady is at the top. You already knew that. But the gap between him and everyone else is kinda ridiculous. Brady finished his career with 649 regular-season touchdown passes.
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To put that in perspective, if a rookie came into the league today and threw 35 touchdowns every single year—which is a massive, Pro-Bowl-caliber season—they would have to do that for 18 and a half years straight just to tie him. Most guys don't even have an 18-year career, let alone 18 years of elite production.
Behind him, you've got Drew Brees at 571. Brees was a statistical machine in New Orleans, basically turning the Superdome into a touchdown factory for over a decade. He’s the only other guy in the 500 club who really gave Brady a run for his money before retiring.
The Top 10 All-Time Passing Touchdown Leaders
Here is how the landscape looks as we head into 2026. Keep in mind, these are regular-season stats only, which is how the official NFL record is tracked.
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- Tom Brady: 649 (The GOAT, retired)
- Drew Brees: 571 (The New Orleans Legend, retired)
- Peyton Manning: 539 (The Sheriff, retired)
- Aaron Rodgers: 527+ (Still slinging it in Pittsburgh as of late 2025)
- Brett Favre: 508 (The original Iron Man, retired)
- Philip Rivers: 425 (Retired... mostly)
- Matthew Stafford: 423+ (Climbing the ranks with the Rams)
- Dan Marino: 420 (The 80s icon)
- Ben Roethlisberger: 418 (Retired)
- Matt Ryan: 381 (Retired)
Aaron Rodgers is the one to watch here. He finally passed Brett Favre in 2025 to take over the #4 spot. It’s sort of poetic, isn’t it? The guy who replaced Favre in Green Bay eventually replaced him on the all-time list. Rodgers still looks like he has some gas in the tank, but catching Manning at 539 is the next real milestone. He needs about 13 more to get there.
Why the Old Era Numbers are Deceptive
If you look at Dan Marino at #8, you might think, "Oh, he's not that high up." But you’ve gotta remember the context. Marino threw 48 touchdowns in 1984. In 1984! Defenders were basically allowed to clothesline receivers back then. Rules were different.
Today’s all-time passing touchdown leaders benefit from a league that protects the quarterback like a delicate vase and penalizes defensive backs for even breathing on a wideout. This is why we see guys like Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson (353) climbing so high.
Stafford is actually a fascinating case. People forget how many touchdowns he racked up in Detroit while they were constantly playing from behind. He passed Dan Marino in late 2025, which is a sentence that would have sounded insane twenty years ago.
Can Patrick Mahomes Actually Do It?
This is the question everyone asks. Mahomes is the only guy with a realistic shot at the 600-club. As of early 2026, he’s sitting at 267 touchdowns.
He’s still in his 20s. Think about that.
He is currently averaging about 2.2 touchdowns per game. If he plays 335 games (which is what Brady played), he’s projected to land somewhere around 629 touchdowns. It’s going to be tight. Longevity is the biggest "if" in sports. Brady didn't just have talent; he had a weird, avocado-based durability that let him play until he was 45. Mahomes has to stay healthy for another 12 seasons to even have a conversation about the #1 spot.
What it Takes to Break Into the Top 5
It's not just about arm talent. To be one of the all-time passing touchdown leaders, you need three things:
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- System Stability: Peyton Manning and Drew Brees spent most of their careers in systems designed specifically to exploit their brains.
- Luck: You can't control a freak ACL tear or a bad hit to the shoulder.
- Refusal to Quit: Most of the guys in the top 10 played through significant pain in their late 30s.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're tracking these stats, don't just look at the total number. Look at "Touchdowns per Game." That's where you see the real efficiency.
- Watch Aaron Rodgers through the rest of the 2025-26 playoffs. Every touchdown he throws now is historic, moving him closer to that top-3 podium.
- Keep an eye on Josh Allen. He’s sitting at 220 touchdowns as of January 2026. He’s much younger than the guys above him and is on a trajectory to hit the top 15 very quickly.
- Value the "Pre-2004" Stats. Any quarterback who played before the 2004 rule changes (which strictly enforced the 5-yard contact rule) deserves a "difficulty multiplier" in your head.
The record books are constantly being rewritten, but Tom Brady’s 649 feels like one of those "unbreakable" records, much like Jerry Rice's receiving yards or Cy Young's wins. We’re watching greatness in real-time with the current crop of QBs, but the mountain remains very, very tall.
To truly understand the legacy of these players, compare their touchdown-to-interception ratios. This reveals who was a "volume" shooter versus who was a "sniper." For example, Aaron Rodgers has the most efficient ratio in history, whereas Brett Favre's high touchdown count came with a side of over 300 interceptions. Knowing these nuances helps you see past the raw totals and understand who really mastered the position.