Using DPAR, which was created by Football Outsiders and stands for Defense-adjusted Points Above Replacement, the debate is essentially settled. The current QB Rating is obviously outdated and measures team success more than actual quarterback success. DPAR on the other hand measures the value of a player to his team over a replacement player. I put together the average DPAR ratings of quarterbacks since 2001, since thats the first year both Manning and Brady played fulltime, and put them in a list. To qualify for the first list, a QB had to play 4 years in which he registered a DPAR. Here's the results:
| Rank | Years | Average DPAR | |
| P. Manning | 1 | 7 | 122.5 |
| Brady | 2 | 7 | 88.1 |
| Palmer | 3 | 4 | 82.3 |
| Roethlisberger | 4 | 4 | 62.7 |
| Favre | 5 | 7 | 60.9 |
| Brees | 6 | 6 | 60.6 |
| Green | 7 | 7 | 57 |
| Bulger | 8 | 6 | 54.7 |
| Pennington | 9 | 5 | 54.6 |
| Hasselbeck | 10 | 7 | 54.1 |
| McNabb | 11 | 7 | 46.7 |
| McNair | 12 | 7 | 44.8 |
| Collins | 13 | 5 | 38.7 |
| Garcia | 14 | 7 | 38.2 |
| Warner | 15 | 7 | 38.1 |
| Plummer | 16 | 6 | 37.4 |
| Culpepper | 17 | 7 | 36.2 |
| Delhomme | 18 | 4 | 36 |
| Kitna | 19 | 7 | 33.8 |
| B. Johnson | 20 | 6 | 33.1 |
| Brunnell | 21 | 5 | 30.8 |
| A. Brooks | 22 | 6 | 26 |
| Leftwich | 23 | 4 | 23.6 |
| Bledsoe | 24 | 5 | 23.2 |
| Griese | 25 | 6 | 16.2 |
| E. Manning | 26 | 4 | 14.7 |
| Vick | 27 | 6 | 6.5 |
| Boller | 28 | 4 | 1.6 |
| Harrington | 29 | 7 | 1.1 |
| Dilfer | 30 | 4 | -3.8 |
| Carr | 31 | 7 | -9.3 |
Brady vs. Manning - Obviously, its not even close. Carson Palmer is closer to Brady than Brady is to Manning (almost 6 times closer). Those who believe that Brady is better will come back with the 3 rings argument, but quite frankly, thats just not relevant. Also of note is the Manning's 2006 season was better than his then record setting 2004 season according to DPAR. Its obvious that Manning is the best and its not even close.
Favre - Even when Favre is well past his prime, too old, and hurting the Packers he's still the 5th best QB over this time. Whether that says more about the league or Brett is up to you.
Roethlisberger - He's not overrated. He's the 4th best quarterback over this time period. According to DPAR, he's actually closer to Tom Brady thant Brady is to Manning. I'm sure I've ticked off enough Patriot fans with the QB "x" is closer Brady than Brady is to Manning lines so I'll stop that for now.
McNabb - He actually is overrated. He isn't a top 10 QB over this time period. Some will cite injuries and that very may be a reason why he isn't a top 10 QB. That said, he's still not very accurate and the DPAR numbers help articulate that.
Drafting a QB really is a crapshoot - David Carr, Mike Vick, and Eli Manning were all 1st overall picks and are 3 of the 6 worst QBs on this list. The other 3 of the bottom 6 were all 1st round picks. Meanwhile, Tom Brady sits nicely in the 2nd spot as a 6th round pick.
Here's the list of QBs who've played more than 1 year but less than 4 years:
| Rank | Years | Average DPAR | |
| Romo | 1 | 2 | 70.2 |
| Rivers | 2 | 2 | 69.9 |
| Garrard | 3 | 3 | 41.2 |
| Cutler | 4 | 2 | 37.1 |
| D. Anderson | 5 | 2 | 28.2 |
| Lienhart | 6 | 2 | 16.6 |
| Young | 7 | 2 | 9.7 |
| Grossman | 8 | 2 | 0.5 |
| Losman | 9 | 3 | 0.3 |
| A. Smith | 10 | 3 | -31.6 |
It looks like Tony Romo, Phillip Rivers, David Garrard, and Jay Cutler are all on pace to be good solid QBs. Alex Smith on the other hand might be the worst #1 pick ever.
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