The 4,000 yard feat in NFL history has been met numerous times and after looking at the all-time greats that have set the standard, we will see that Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer has to be in this elite group without a doubt.
Here is a bit of history that shows that 4,000 yards is really hard to accomplish in any offense in any era, in fact you will see that the era’s don’t really even play a huge part because the high octane offenses in the past were doing the same thing they are doing today, spreading the defense out and passing on almost every down.
Lets start with the greats in the Hall-of –Fame; Dan Marino has surpassed 4,000 yards six times in his 17 year career and one of those was for 5,000 yards, which set the record that Brees broke in 2008.
Air Coryell gun slinger Dan Fouts has reached it only three times in his 15 years, and his offense had a plethora of weapons and they scored a lot of points and almost put every one of those receivers in Canton.
The great run-and-shoot passer Warren Moon eclipses this mark four times in 17 years and he was one of the NFL greatest passers that played on several losing teams as he moved around from team to team.
The great John Elway reached the 4,000 yard mark one time in his entire 16 year career in 1993, that is hard to put in thought, just one time, the great Elway who passed the ball all over the field setting and breaking records. But this proves that even for a legend in a great offense, reaching the 4,000 yard mark is not that easy to surpass consistently.
Here are two that will flip your lid better than that one, Joe Montana who is arguably the best quarterback in NFL history, and Jim Kelly of the K-gun offense that went to four straight super-bowls both have not hit the 4,000 yard mark at all in their careers, that is unbelievable.
Those are the greats that set the standard,next we will see the new millennium group of quarterbacks and their numbers and see if Carson Palmer is in the class of the elite.
