National Football League

Cowherd: Here's why Tom Brady's career has been better than Peyton Manning's

Published Dec. 16, 2016 6:40 p.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Tom Brady is 39 years old and making a run at winning his third MVP and fifth Super Bowl. That might give him the edge over Peyton Manning, who won five MVPs but only two Super Bowls.

However, Colin Cowherd thinks Brady's career already is more impressive than Manning's for one reason: the crazy cast of characters he's thrown to.

Brady has thrown a touchdown pass to 65 receivers in his career, from Sam Aiken to Tim Wright. Clearly, not all names that football fans know.

"Here's what's remarkable: Most quarterbacks — the great ones — end up having two or three guys who are (responsible for) a majority of their touchdowns or their greatness," Cowherd said on "The Herd" on Friday. "For instance, Peyton Manning's remarkable. But Peyton Manning had Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Those guys combined for almost 2,400 catches and 240 touchdowns. If you take the three best guys Brady's ever thrown to ... If you look at Gronk, Randy Moss and Welker — not even half (of his career TDs). Look at his all-star receivers. There's one Hall of Famer in there: Randy Moss. Gronk's gonna be close."

Rob Gronkowski (76), Moss (40) and Wes Welker (38) have combined for 154 of his 450 TD passes. That's 34 percent. Manning's trio of top receivers combined for 44 percent of his 539 career TD passes.

Not an earth-shaking difference, but then again Brady's not done yet.