5 Best Journeyman Quarterbacks In NFL History…And The 5 Worst Who Were Major Disappointments
The NFL quarterback position is regarded as the most important position on the football field. For franchises that can’t solidify their starting quarterback, they often rely on a competent player who can temporarily fill the hole in the roster, but that isn’t the solution to the problem. These guys who bounce from team to team are called journeyman quarterbacks.
For the sake of this list, let’s define journeyman as having played for three or more teams over a decade-long career or more. Here are the five best journeyman quarterbacks in NFL history, and the five worst.
Which quarterbacks in the NFL were successful in changing teams and which were not?
Best: Matt Cassel
Drafted by New England out of USC in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL Draft, Matt Cassel backed up Tom Brady for four years in New England. When Brady suffered an ACL tear in 2008, Matt Cassel Stepped in and led the Patriots to a 10-5 record, but still missed the playoffs. He was then sent to Kansas City for four years where he led the Chiefs to a playoff berth in 2010. The former NFL quarterback spent time with Minnesota, Buffalo, Dallas, Tennessee, and Detroit before retiring in 2018.
Worst: Josh Johnson
Josh Johnson played for seven teams in his NFL career and started only nine. Johnson only won one game as a starter; it came in 2018 when he played for Washington in a December game against the Jaguars. Johnson threw for one touchdown in a 16-13 victory. In his career, Johnson threw for 2,280 yards, thirteen touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Johnson did take a break from the NFL in 2019 and 2020 where he spent time in the Alliance of American Football (AAF) and the XFL. He signed a deal with the Baltimore Ravens in March of 2024 after a year-long break from any active roster.
Best: Nick Foles
Nick Foles is best known for putting the city of Philadelphia on his back and helping the Eagles win the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 2017. The man does have a statue in his honor in Philadelphia and a Pro Bowl appearance in 2013. He was drafted by Philadelphia in 2012, then was sent to Saint Louis in 2015. From there he joined the Chiefs for a year before finding himself back in Philadelphia in 2017. Foles spent time with Jacksonville, Chicago, and Indianapolis before retiring in 2022. The former NFL quarterback has an even 29-29 record as a starter and 82 touchdowns to only 47 interceptions thrown in his career.
Worst: Josh McCown
Selected in the third round of the 2002 NFL Draft, Josh McCown spent sixteen years in the NFL and split his time between nine different teams. He even spent a season with the Hartford Colonials of the UFL in 2010. McCown’s best season came in 2017 when he started thirteen games for the Jets and only won five. He had a touchdown to interception ratio of 18:9 that year. In his career, he won 23 games, lost 53 as the starter, and was mostly used as a veteran presence or an emergency quarterback.
Best: Vinny Testaverde
Testaverde was a two-time Pro Bowler in his career. He was the first overall pick by the Buccaneers in 1987 and spent six years with them before starting for the Brown in 1993. Three years in Cleveland passed and Testaverde joined the Ravens where he made a Pro Bowl in 1996. He made another Pro Bowl in his first year as a Jet in 1998, where he stayed until 2004 when he joined the Cowboys. He spent time in New England, Carolina and had another stint in New York Before retiring in 2007. All in all, Testaverde won 90 games as a starter but went to the playoffs seven times winning four postseason games. The former NFL quarterback has over 46,000 career passing yards and 275 touchdowns to 267 interceptions.
Worst: Trent Dilfer
Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl in 2000 with the Baltimore Ravens, but many say he was carried by one of the best defenses the league has ever seen. Outside of this one Super Bowl win, Dilfer has barely over 20,000 passing yards in his career. This goes along with having more interceptions than he does touchdown passes. He spent time with Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Seattle, Cleveland, and San Francisco over a thirteen-year career, but is not memorable for any of the teams he played for.
Best: Dave Krieg
Dave Krieg spent 1980-1991 with the Seattle Seahawks where he made three Pro Bowls and led the Hawks to the playoffs four times. He led them to the AFC Championship game in 1984, losing to the Raiders. After an eleven-year career with Seattle, Krieg joined the Kansas City Chiefs where he spent two years before becoming a member of the Lions, Cardinals, Bears, and Titans before retiring in 1998. All in all, he posted a 98-77 record as a starting NFL quarterback and tossed 261 touchdowns to 199 interceptions.
Worst: David Carr
David Carr was the first-overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. He spent five years with the Texans who drafted him, before joining the Panthers in 2007. After a year in Carolina where Carr went 1-3 as the starter, he spent the next two years with the Giants, but things didn’t get much better as he didn’t start any games. He spent a year in San Francisco before retiring as a Giant in 2012. Carr didn’t start a game after 2007 and didn’t throw a touchdown in the last two years of his career. Obviously, he did not live up to his expectations as a number one overall draft pick.
Best: Ryan Fitzpatrick
Fitzmagic himself has a very interesting story as a quarterback in the NFL. He became the third quarterback in NFL history to be drafted out of Harvard and was a backup in Saint Louis for two years before being sent to Cincinnati. The thing about Fitzpatrick however is that every time his expectations are set low, he absolutely balls out. But the moment he is signed to a respectable contract, he (seemingly) forgets everything he ever knew about football. Fitzpatrick has been on the right end of some wild finishes throughout his 17-year career and has thirteen comebacks and eighteen game-winning drives. Fitzpatrick finished his career with just under 35,000 passing yards, 223 touchdowns and 169 interceptions. He got the chance to play for nine NFL franchises, and will almost always be one of the most entertaining players to watch in the post-game press conference.
Worst: Cotton Davidson
Cotton Davidson has a career completion percentage of 43.9%, which makes him statistically the most inaccurate passer in NFL history. Regardless, Davidson played eleven years in the NFL from 1954-1968, spending time with the Baltimore Colts, Dallas Texans, and Oakland Raiders. He won the AFL Championship in his career but with a completion percentage of 43.9% and 108 interceptions to only 73 touchdowns he found his way onto this list.
5 Best Journeyman Quarterbacks In NFL History…And The 5 Worst Who Were Major Disappointments
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