Brightcast
Terrible quarterbacks have been prevalent in the NFL since its inception. And, it’s a good thing to study for fans of the sport. Not every QB can be as gifted and successful as Patrick Mahomes or Joe Montana. Up until just a few years ago, there were adults living in Boston who had only ever experienced elite QB play after watching Tom Brady for two decades. It can be helpful to look back on the past in order to further our appreciation of the all-time greats. Here are the worst QBs to start for every NFL team:
Buffalo Bills — Nathan Peterman
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
With starting QB Tyrod Taylor struggling, Buffalo fans clamored for head coach Sean McDermott to give fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman a shot under center. McDermott obliged, and in Week 10 of the 2017 season, Nathan Peterman made his first career NFL start. Peterman proceeded to complete six passes to his team and five passes to the other team. The five-INT day wasn’t enough to sway McDermott away from starting Peterman again (and again). By season’s end, Peterman had appeared in four regular season games and totaled just 252 yards of passing. The pick-happy Peterman didn’t just stop there – he also threw a pick on one of his three attempts in Buffalo’s Wild Card defeat to the Jaguars.
Miami Dolphins — Cleo Lemon
Doug Benc/GETTY Images
Between the undefeated season in 1972 and the Dan Marino-led era of the 80s, the Dolphins have historically been one of the more fortunate franchises in all of football. However, every team goes through a rough patch. Miami made the playoffs just two times from 2002 to 2021. By far the worst season of the bunch was the 1-15 trainwreck of a year in 2007. Leading all QBs in starts for the Dolphins that year was the formerly undrafted Cleo Lemon. Lemon was under center during Miami’s lone win that season – which is good – but he also never started an NFL game ever again after 2007 – which is not good.
New England Patriots — Matt Cavanaugh
Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images
It’s tough for a franchise that had Tom Brady for 20 years to complain, but the Patriots haven’t had much luck at QB outside of the seven-time (six with the Patriots) Super Bowl winner. Among one of the team’s biggest whiffs was Pittsburgh product Matt Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh was a second-round pick in 1978 and ended up making 15 starts for New England. While his total stats weren’t completely awful (19 TDs, 23 INTs), he owns one of the single-worst performances a QB has ever produced. In Week 2 of the 1982 NFL season, Cavanaugh completed 6-of-17 passes with three interceptions and zero touchdowns. He passed for just 64 yards while absorbing six sacks for 68 yards, netting -4 passing yards on the day.
New York Jets — Browning Nagle
George Gojkovich-GETTY Images
Nagle was selected with the 34th overall pick in the 1991 NFL Draft. Rumor has it that the Jets had their eyes on another gunslinger with that pick – Brett Favre, who was selected exactly one pick before the Jets scooped up Nagle. For a quick comparison, Favre threw for 508 touchdowns over his NFL career and Nagle threw a whopping eight touchdowns.
Dallas Cowboys — Steve Pelluer
Focus on Sport-GETTY Images
Vinny Testaverde’s lone year playing for America’s Team certainly deserves an honorable mention here – 5-10 record with 20 interceptions – but it’s difficult to hold it against the former two-time Pro Bowler who was 41 years old at the time. Pelluer has no such excuse. The Washington alum took over for a good – not great – Dallas Cowboys team in 1986 and effectively nosedived the entire squad in three seasons. Pelluer went 9-20 as a starter in Dallas – his .296 winning percentage is the lowest of any Cowboys QB who has started at least 10 games.
New York Giants — Joe Pisarcik
Focus on Sport-GETTY Images
Pisarcik is perhaps best known for his role in the famed “Miracle at the Meadowlands” play. Quarterbacking for the Giants, Pisarcik – nursing a five-point lead with seconds left — botched a handoff intended for Larry Csonka which was recovered by Eagles safety Herm Edwards and returned for a touchdown. The blunder led to a league-wide adoption of “taking a knee” to ice close games – which means Pisarcik (who boasts a putrid 53.9 QB rating) was at least good for something.
Philadelphia Eagles — Mike McMahon
James R. Morton-GETTY Images
The Eagles have had a strong run of QB play for the better part of the last four decades. Philly rebounded quickly from the Ron Jaworski- and Randall Cunningham-eras directly into Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, a couple year’s worth of Carson Wentz (plus a playoff run from Nick Foles), and now have Jalen Hurts. They’ve hardly gone consecutive years at any point with poor QBs, so we have to look at one-year wonders to find the true mediocrity and McMahon fits the bill. McMahon spelled for McNabb in 2005 for seven games and managed to complete just 45.4 percent of his passes. He was out of the league the following season.
Washington Redskins — Heath Shuler
Doug Pensinger-GETTY Images
For as bad as Washington has been since the 80s, the Redskins haven’t had the worst luck with QBs over the years. Guys like Jason Campbell, Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, Case Keenum, and Alex Smith varied from serviceable to fairly good during their time in Washington. We have to stretch a bit further back to find some real clunkers, and Shuler might be the worst of the bunch. The former third overall pick in 1994 started just 22 games in a Washington uniform – managing just eight wins and 15 career touchdowns (to 33 interceptions).
Baltimore Ravens — Chris Redman
Craig Jones-GETTY Images
Consider yourself lucky, Trent Dilfer. If the Ravens somehow don’t win Super Bowl XXXV, Dilfer would be known as the QB who held back arguably the greatest defense of all time. Instead, the Ravens steamrolled the Giants (no thanks to their QB who threw for 153 yards on the day), and Dilfer is exempt from being considered the worst QB in franchise history. Redman was more of a journeyman (12 career starts), but he didn’t inspire much confidence when he stepped in as the starter in 2002 and went 3-3 with a 53.3 completion percentage.
Cincinnati Bengals — Akili Smith
Andy Lyons-GETTY Images
Smith wasn’t the only first-round QB bust from the 1999 NFL Draft (Couch and McNown), but he arguably had the worst overall career. Cincy made the dual-threat QB the third-overall pick in 1999, and Smith obliged the franchise in their optimism by connecting on five touchdown passes in his career – or the same amount that Lamar Jackson threw for in a single game three separate times in 2019. Bengals fans should appreciate the steady play from Andy Dalton and the star power of Joe Burrow that much more knowing the team’s history at the position.
Cleveland Browns — Deshone Kizer
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Take your pick. The Browns have had an unprecedented run of poor QB play for the better part of three decades now. They’ve had every possible version of a bad QB: High-profile first-round busts (Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Johnny Manziel), collegiate stars who weren’t NFL caliber (Brandon Weeden, Colt McCoy, Mike Phipps), and reclamation projects who never stood a chance (too many to count). The worst of the bunch might be Deshone Kizer. The Notre Dame product led the league interceptions in his lone year and suffered 15 of the losses during Cleveland’s winless campaign in 2017. He appeared in three games for the Green Bay Packers the next season, and has not played in the NFL ever since.
Pittsburgh Steelers — Mark Malone
Focus on Sport-GETTY Images
The Steelers have been home to two no-brainer Hall of Famers (Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger), a scrappy third-round pick-turned-Pro-Bowler (Neil O’Donnell), and one of the most athletic QBs of his era (Kordell Stewart). Aside from the four big names, Pittsburgh’s QB room has been filled with moderately talented signal-callers. Malone wasn’t awful, but he boasts the worst winning percentage of any Pitt starting QB who played a meaningful amount of games (22-25 career record).
Chicago Bears — Cade McNown
Jonathan Daniel-GETTY Images
Move over, Josh Rosen — there’s an even more disappointing former UCLA QB in town. McNown was a member of the famed 1999 NFL Draft which featured a plethora of busted prospects. It took just 15 starts for the Bears to realize McNown wasn’t their guy. With a 3-12 career record and just 16 total touchdowns to his name, McNown was barely a blip on the NFL radar before he was canned entirely from the league.
Detroit Lions — Dan Orlovsky
Ezra Shaw-GETTY Images
Optics are a big factor for QBs in today’s game. If a quarterback doesn’t pass the eye test or the numbers test, there’s a good chance it’s not going to work out. Orlovsky lost the most games (seven) of any QB to start for the 0-16 Lions in 2008, and he’s also responsible for one of the most bone-headed plays in NFL history when he unknowingly ran 10 yards out of the back of the end zone for a safety and still attempted to keep the play alive. He was damned from that point forward, though he’s found a nice niche as an analyst for ESPN.
Green Bay Packers — Randy Wright
Ronald C. Modra-GETTY Images
Bart Starr. Brett Favre. Aaron Rodgers. Randy…Wright? Wright surely sticks out like a sore thumb given Green Bay’s long list of terrific QBs who have played there. Wright went 7-25 as a starter for the Pack – a far cry from the near 60-percent win rate recorded by the Starr/Favre/Rodgers trio (and that’s not including all of Starr’s AFL wins). It’s a shame Wright — who graduated from Wisconsin — couldn’t do more for Green Bay during his time there.
Minnesota Vikings — Christian Ponder
Wesley Hitt-GETTY Images
A first-round pick in 2011, Ponder predictably struggled throughout his rookie year as he was sacked 30 times and managed just a 2-8 record in 10 starts. Ponder inspired hope in Year 2, guiding the Vikings to a 10-6 record and a Wild Card berth. An opening weekend loss to the Packers would end up being the pinnacle for the Florida State product, as Ponder would go on to make just 10 more starts over the next two years. Just three years after he was the 12th pick in the draft, Ponder was out of the league by 2014.
Houston Texans — David Carr
Stephen Dunn-GETTY Images
The elder Carr is not the least talented QB in Houston history. In fact, Carr boasted far more arm talent than T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden, A.J. McCarron, Davis Mills, or even Matt Schaub. However, there’s no denying just how bad the Texans were with Carr under center. Carr went 22-52 as Houston’s starter and was sacked an egregious 249 times over those starts. He may have fared better in a different situation, but Carr’s anemic numbers speak for themselves.
Indianapolis Colts — Jeff George
Joe Robbins-GETTY Images
A baseline level of expectations is set for any former No. 1 overall pick. George went first overall in the 1990 NFL Draft to the Colts and was rather bad for his tenure in Indy. In four seasons, George led the Colts to a 14-35 record with a 41:46 TD-INT ratio. George eventually cleaned up his act later in his career — becoming rather serviceable for the Falcons, Raiders, and Vikings — but he was a colossal bust during his years with the Colts.
Jacksonville Jaguars — Steve Beuerlein
Doug Pensinger-GETTY Images
Beuerlein enjoyed a rather pedestrian 14-year career, but his short-stint with the Jaguars stands out among the rest. Beuerlein went 1-5 in Jacksonville, throwing four touchdowns to seven interceptions. The very next year, the Jaguars replaced Beuerlein with Mark Brunell and went to the Conference Championship. Not a great sign when an average hurler like Brunell could shift the tides instantly.
Tennessee Titans — Billy Joe Tolliver
Al Bello-GETTY Images
The Titans (still the Houston Oilers at that point) went winless with Tolliver calling the shots in 1994. The franchise was in shambles after losing cornerstone Warren Moon a year earlier and made the move to Tennessee just three years after Moon’s departure. Had Tolliver and company played a bit better during the ’94 season, the Oilers might still be an active team.
Atlanta Falcons — Kim McQuilken
Focus on Sport/Getty Images
The tortured Atlanta Falcons fanbase has had to endure plenty of poor QB play over the years, but McQuilken was in a league of his own. Only starting seven games for the Dirty Birds, McQuilken boasted a modest 2-5 record. However, McQuilken’s career numbers as a passer are some of the worst of any QB in history. The Lehigh product tossed 29 career interceptions to just 4 touchdowns and owns an embarrassing 17.9 career passer rating. To contextualize just how bad that 17.9 mark is: If a QB threw an incomplete pass on every play their rating would be 39.6. McQuilken may as well have chucked the ball into the dirt every play.
Carolina Panthers — Chris Weinke
Streeter Lecka-GETTY Images
Jake Delhomme is the most infamously bad QB in Panthers history given his penchant for mistakes in crucial moments. However, Delhomme led the Panthers to three double-digit win seasons, made a Super Bowl appearance, and was named an All-Pro in 2005. Weinke was just plain bad — which was shocking given how dominant the 2000 Heisman Trophy winner was at Florida State. Weinke went 1-14 as a starter in Year 1 and would go on to start just four more games in the next four years before being booted from the league.
New Orleans Saints — Danny Wuerffel
Stephen Dunn-GETTY Images
Had it not been for the magical Super Bowl-winning run in 2010, the Saints would be a heavy favorite for the most tortured franchise in all of football. New Orleans has had its fair share of bad quarterbacks — including Jim Everett, an aging Ken Stabler, Ian Book, and Archie Manning (who has somehow managed to make everyone forget about his dismal 35-101 record as a starter). In fact, the Saints have previously employed three other QBs who are mentioned on this list (Tolliver, Delhomme, and Shuler). Wuerffel was a collegiate stud — four-time SEC champion and 1996 Heisman Trophy winner at Florida — but never found success in the NFL. He ended his career with just 12 touchdown passes and a 56.4 career passer rating.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Steve Spurrier
Focus on Sport-GETTY Images
Spurrier was a sporadic passer during his time in the league, tossing 60 career interceptions to just 40 touchdown passes. He latched onto the Bucs roster in 1976 and proceeded to lose all 12 of his starts in Tampa. Spurrier called it quits following the winless seasons and entered the coaching realm. In 1978, Spurrier was hired to coach QBs and WRs at the University of Florida. The famed collegiate coach has proven far better at leading a team from the sideline rather than from under center.
Denver Broncos — Steve Ramsey
Kenn Bisio-GETTY Images
Brock Osweiler, Drew Lock, and Paxton Lynch certainly deserve some recognition here, but they both pale in comparison to the atrocity known as Steve Ramsey. Ramsey holds a modest 14-17 record as a starter — but those 14 wins were mostly despite his play. His numbers are awful across the board — 49.5 completion percentage, 35-58 TD-INT ratio, and averaged only 119.2 yards per game. Ramsey was the quintessential game manager who didn’t have nearly enough arm talent to garner a starting job.
Kansas City Chiefs — Brodie Croyle
Sporting News Archive-GETTY Images
0-10 — that’s Croyle’s career mark as a starter in the NFL. A former third-round pick, Croyle couldn’t manage to win a single game as a starting NFL quarterback despite being given numerous chances. And it wasn’t because he was unlucky — Croyle was a poor decision-maker with a knack for turning the ball over. The Chiefs quickly realized their error in drafting Croyle, and in 2009 the franchise went out and traded for Matt Cassell. Croyle attempted his last NFL pass in 2010.
Los Angeles Chargers — Ryan Leaf
Elsa-GETTY Images
There isn’t much that needs to be said about this one. Leaf didn’t have the maturity, arm strength, or decision-making skills to succeed as an NFL quarterback (he famously folded under the pressure in a profanity-laced tirade of a reporter in the Chargers locker room following a regular season loss). Leaf has since revitalized his image in the public eye, but that certainly doesn’t change the fact that he was one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history.
Oakland Raiders — Jamarcus Russell
Jed Jacobsohn-GETTY Images
Once again, this entry is self-explanatory. Enamored by his immense arm strength and pedigree at LSU, former Raiders owner Al Davis made Jamarcus Russell the first pick of the 2007 NFL Draft. Some of the names the Raiders passed on that year include future Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson, future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas, future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson, future Hall of Famer Patrick Willis, future Hall of Famer Marshawn Lynch, and future Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis — and that’s just the first round. Russell set the franchise back years.
Arizona Cardinals — Ryan Lindley
Christian Peterson-GETTY Images
An Arizona QB with a noodle for an arm and little-to-no athleticism. And no, we’re not talking about Matt Leinart. At least Leinart was a good player at one point in his football career (or do those years even count anymore after the sanctions?). Plus, the team Arizona built around Leinart wasn’t overly talented. Lindley went 1-3 (with zero touchdowns and seven picks) in 2012 with virtually the same roster that had a 5-2 record while John Skelton was at the helm. In 2013, the Cardinals brought in Carson Palmer and proceeded to win 34 games over the next three seasons.
Los Angeles Rams — Keith Null
Stephen Dunn-GETTY Images
In the time between “The Greatest Show on Turf” and their eventual return to Southern California, the Rams endured a slew of disappointing seasons. From 2007-09, the St. Louis Rams went 6-42 and undoubtedly boasted the worst offense in football throughout the entire span. Null played in just four games for the Rams in 2009 but managed to toss nine interceptions on just 119 attempts.
San Francisco 49ers — Steve DeBerg
Focus on Sport-GETTY Images
Outside of a short-lived run in Kansas City, journeyman QB DeBerg was essentially a trainwreck at every stop of his NFL career. His tenure in San Fran was no different. A 24-year-old rookie, DeBerg was inserted into the starting lineup for the 49ers in 1978 and proceeded to lose 23 of his first 26 starts while throwing 43 interceptions over that span.
Seattle Seahawks — Stan Gelbugh
Otto Greule Jr.-GETTY Images
In 1991, a second-year Stan Gelbaugh earned his first starting role with the Phoenix Cardinals. Gelbaugh didn’t exactly seize the moment, as he led the Cardinals to three losses while tossing 10 picks to just three touchdown passes. Astonishingly, the Seahawks saw enough out of Gelbaugh that they handed over their starting QB job to him the following year. Gelbaugh unsurprisingly struggled, losing all eight of his starts for Seattle in 1992. Just like the old saying goes: One man’s trash is another man’s…trash.