When one asks who is the greatest of all time, or the G.O.A.T., as a quarterback in the National Football League, the names of Brady, Manning or Montana are brought up. However there has been one name that has always flown under the radar. That name is Drew Brees, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints.

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Brees was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 2001, where he played for four years until he was traded to the Saints in 2006; that is where he has stayed since. The most that anyone outside of the football world knows of Brees is that he led the Saints a win in Super Bowl XLIV. Then afterwards, he fell off the face of the earth, as the Saints have not had a season that would be worth remembering since 2010. They have made the playoffs here and there, but they never made it back to the championship game. However that may change with Brees breaking NFL records and the Saints looking as strong as ever.

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During the Saints’ matchup with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year, Brees became one the few quarterbacks to reach the “500 Club”, as he completed his 500th career touchdown pass during the game and also became one of two other quarterbacks to have beaten all 32 NFL teams.

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In a Week 5 game against the Washington Redskins, Brees became the all-time leading passer in NFL history, surpassing Peyton Manning, who held the record before him. Manning publicly congratulated Brees on breaking the record, saying, “He deserves it . . . He’s just been the ultimate pro, taking care of himself, being in great shape. Credit to him for playing as long as he has, at such a high level."

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Despite the records that Brees is currently breaking, he has other stats that show how good of a player he is. Brees is currently the most accurate quarterback in the NFL at the moment with a 77.4% completion rate and he had seven straight seasons with 4,500 passing yards. Despite these numbers, Brees has stayed humble and said in a statement published by the New York Times “I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to play this game. It’s truly been a dream come true.”

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The reason his name is not brought up in the discussion of the best quarterbacks of all time is that the quarterbacks mentioned above have made the playoffs or won championships multiple times. The records that Brees has broken and the records that he has yet to break are there regardless if he missed the playoffs or lost games. There are many great players that have not made it or won the Super Bowl, but they could still give other teams a run for their money.  So when people have those discussions of who the greatest quarterback is, skill is just as, of not more, valuable a criteria as how many championships a quarterback wins.