Tom Brady passes Jerry Rice to become all-time fantasy football scoring leader
Tom Brady holds the records for Super Bowl victories (six), Super Bowl MVP awards (four) and Pro Bowl selections (14, although he’s tied for that mark), and now he has another record to add to his résumé: He has passed Jerry Rice for the most PPR points in fantasy football history, making him the all-time scorer in our game, regardless of format.
With Brady’s 16-yard pass to Antonio Brown in the second quarter vs. the Carolina Panthers, he surpassed Rice’s 5,141.8 PPR fantasy points, accrued between 1985 and 2005. He finished with 31.84 fantasy points on Sunday, his third 30-point effort of the season.
Interestingly, Brady wasn’t the only player who had a chance to pass Rice on the leaderboard on Sunday. Drew Brees entered the day with more career fantasy points than Brady, having passed Brady in their head-to-head meeting during Week 9, but Brees suffered a rib injury during his game against the 49ers, costing him the entire second half and limiting him to only 6.94 points. Brady and Brees had been jockeying for the honor of first to pass Rice for the past two years, switching between second and third place five times. It’s fitting to see these two continuously neck-and-neck for the honor, considering they hold the top two spots on the all-time list for both passing yards and passing touchdowns, with Brees holding the former mark by 2,302 yards and the latter by one TD.
Brady has more than 1,000 fantasy points since turning 40 — 1,045.2, to be exact — which is also a record.
The top 20 in career PPR fantasy points:
5,164.4 — Tom Brady, QB, 2000-present
5,141.8 — Jerry Rice, WR, 1985-2005
5,141.4 — Drew Brees, QB, 2001-present
4,683.1 — Peyton Manning, QB, 1998-2016
4,389.2 — Brett Favre, QB, 1991-2010
3,867.6 — Larry Fitzgerald, WR, 2004-present
3,831.0 — Aaron Rodgers, QB, 2005-present
3,710.4 — Ben Roethlisberger, QB, 2004-present
3,698.4 — Philip Rivers, QB, 2004-present
3,671.7 — Emmitt Smith, RB, 1990-2005
3,661.5 — Dan Marino, QB, 1983-2000
3,624.5 — Terrell Owens, WR, 1996-2010
3,510.7 — Tony Gonzalez, TE, 1997-2013
3,467.3 — Randy Moss, WR, 1998-2012
3,462.4 — Marshall Faulk, RB, 1994-2006
3,451.3 — LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, 2001-12
3,401.6 — Walter Payton, RB, 1975-87
3,363.9 — George Blanda, QB/K, 1950-75
3,347.1 — Matt Ryan, QB, 2008-present
3,324.8 — Marvin Harrison, WR, 1996-2008
There are seven active players in the top 20 above. Rounding out the top 10 among active players in career PPR fantasy points:
2,975.7 — Frank Gore, RB, 2005-present
2,960.0 — Jason Witten, TE, 2003-present
2,707.1 — Matthew Stafford, QB, 2009-present