Who Played The Longest In The NFL?

The answer to who played the longest in the NFL is complicated. The NFL has only been around since 1920, but there have been many players who have had long careers.

Brett Favre

Brett Favre played the longest in the NFL, with 297 consecutive starts. He played for the Atlanta Falcons for two seasons before being traded to the Green Bay Packers, where he played for 16 seasons. He then spent two seasons with the New York Jets and one season with the Minnesota Vikings before retiring.

Tom Brady

Tom Brady is widely considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He has played in the NFL for 20 seasons, winning six Super Bowls and three MVP Awards. Brady has also been selected to 14 Pro Bowls.

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning, who played 18 seasons in the NFL, is the league’s all-time leader in both passing yards and touchdown passes. He is also one of only two quarterbacks to win Super Bowls with two different teams, and he was named Super Bowl MVP a record five times.

Drew Brees

Drew Brees set the NFL record for most career passing yards on Monday night, as he surpassed Peyton Manning’s record of 71,940 yards during the New Orleans Saints’ 28-3 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Brees needed just 201 yards passing to break the record, and he ended up finishing with 307 yards and three touchdowns on 29-of-30 passing. He also ran for two yards on a designed QB run in the fourth quarter.

The 41-year-old Brees is now in his 18th NFL season, all with the Saints. He originally entered the league as a second-round pick of the San Diego Chargers in 2001, but he signed with New Orleans as a free agent in 2006 and has been with the Saints ever since.

Including Monday night’s game, Brees has now started 251 regular season games for the Saints, completing 67.4 percent of his passes for 80,358 yards and 588 touchdowns with 232 interceptions. He’s also appeared in 19 playoff games for New Orleans, completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 10,244 yards and 68 touchdowns with 27 interceptions.

Eli Manning

Eli Manning, who announced his retirement from the NFL on Friday, finishes his career as the league’s iron man, having played in 227 consecutive regular-season games, the most by any player in NFL history.

Manning’s streak, which began on Nov. 21, 2004, and spanned 16 seasons with the New York Giants, came to an end when he was benched for Daniel Jones late in the 2019 season. He started 210 consecutive regular-season games at quarterback for the Giants, also an NFL record.