I won’t put up a big fight about an opinion like this, but I have Unitas fifth, so we are basically in agreement and hair splitting. The closest call in the top 5 is Starr or Unitas at fourth.
1. Brady / Graham (neither of them can be surpassed for any good reason - flawless resumes)
3. Montana
4. Starr
5. Unitas
After that there’s a big gap. You have a slew of players jockeying for 6-10 like Baugh, Manning, Elway, Staubach, Lane, Young, etc.
But I would put Starr above Unitas because Starr was the champion of his era, whereas Unitas was the clear runner-up. Unitas had a great supporting cast and coaching as well, though he only won 2 championships, unless you count SB 5 where he was essentially Peyton Manning ‘15 and was knocked out of the SB in the first half. If there’s any doubt about the talent around him, consider that Earl Morrall won a league MVP award when Unitas got injured. Unitas also failed to win a championship with Shula, though they had the league’s best record and were heavy favorites multiple times. He essentially didn’t lead his team to another title after year 4 in 1959, which was another 13 seasons of disappointment.
In the biggest moments, Starr was incredibly clutch and gutsy, always finding ways to win. He has many legendary moments (Brady-esque), whereas Unitas has many big records but short on the legendary championship moments stack.
During the 1960s:
Colts - 92-42-4 (ZERO championships)
Packers - 96-37-5 (FIVE championships)
Looks a lot like the Brady-Manning rivalry in the 2000s. Both teams were superpowers with talent and coaching. One QB was awesome when it counted; the other wasn’t.