Most Passing Touchdowns in NFL History

Tom Brady holds the NFL record for the most career passing touchdowns, with 649 thrown across 23 seasons from 2000 to 2022. That total sits 78 touchdowns ahead of second-place Drew Brees, and Brady is the only quarterback in history to clear 600.

The touchdown pass is the headline result of quarterback play, and stacking up more than 600 is a test of elite production sustained across nearly two decades. The all-time list rewards passers who combined high scoring with extraordinary longevity, and at the very top sits the quarterback whose durability rewrote the position’s record book. Here is the full leaderboard of the NFL’s passing touchdown leaders, the milestones behind them, and why the record may stand for a generation. All figures are as of the 2025 season.

The record holder: Tom Brady and 649 touchdowns

Brady’s career was defined as much by durability as by brilliance. He played into his mid-40s, started more than 300 regular-season games, and paired his touchdown record with seven Super Bowl wins and the all-time passing yards mark. The touchdowns simply accumulated, season after season, into a number no one else has approached.

His 649 total is 78 beyond Drew Brees, and being the only player ever past 600 shows how far Brady stretched the boundaries of a quarterback’s career. He remained a high-volume touchdown thrower even in his final seasons, extending a lead that already looked insurmountable.

The full leaderboard of career passing touchdown leaders

The table below ranks the NFL’s all-time career passing touchdown leaders. Active players are noted.

Rank	Passing TDs	Player	Career
1	649	Tom Brady	2000-2022
2	571	Drew Brees	2001-2020
3	539	Peyton Manning	1998-2015
4	508	Brett Favre	1991-2010
5	503+*	Aaron Rodgers	2005-present
6	421	Philip Rivers	2004-2020
7	420	Dan Marino	1983-1999
8	418	Ben Roethlisberger	2004-2021
9	390+*	Matthew Stafford	2009-present
10	381	Matt Ryan	2008-2022

*Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford are active; their totals are current through the 2025 season and still climbing.

The list is a roll call of modern-era passers, from Dan Marino, who first showed how high the numbers could go, to the record-setting trio of Brees, Manning and Brady who redefined the ceiling.

Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and the 500 club

Drew Brees threw 571 touchdown passes across 20 seasons, mostly with the New Orleans Saints, and briefly held the career record before Brady overtook him. Peyton Manning, third with 539, owns the single-season record of 55 from 2013. Along with Brett Favre (508) and Aaron Rodgers, they make up the exclusive group of quarterbacks past 500 career touchdown passes, and their yardage exploits appear on our most passing yards of all time leaderboard.

Aaron Rodgers and the active chase

Aaron Rodgers leads active quarterbacks and is closing on Brett Favre for fourth place, a fitting subplot given both spent their primes in Green Bay. Rodgers, a two-time MVP known for his low interception rates, has pushed past 500 touchdowns but remains nearly 150 shy of Brady. Matthew Stafford is the other active passer high on the list, showing how far even elite challengers sit behind the record.

Why the record matters

Career passing touchdowns reward the defining skill of football’s most important position, sustained across a very long time. Brady’s 649 is not just a record; it is an outlier, and with no active passer within 140 touchdowns it may hold for a generation. The best quarterbacks lift entire offenses, feeding the backs who chase marks on our most rushing yards of all time leaderboard.

The short version: Tom Brady holds the NFL career passing touchdown record with 649, 78 clear of Drew Brees (571), with Peyton Manning (539) and Brett Favre (508) next. As of the 2025 season, Aaron Rodgers leads active passers and is closing on Favre, but Brady’s mark remains far out of reach.