To say that Andrew Luck’s retirement announcement was abrupt would be putting it mildly. After seven seasons, and before he even turned thirty, Luck told the entire world that he was done – and it was only two weeks before the start of the 2019 season. The injuries were just too much. As Luck said, the cycle of getting injured and recovering has taken all the joy out of the game.
He gave very few interviews or public appearances after that, but he would later go on to say that habits he had picked up during his time as a quarterback had been putting pressure on his marriage to his wife, Nicole. At the end of the day, he realized that his marriage was more important than success in football. Luck has returned to Stanford as a graduate student, working on a master’s degree in education.
Jay Cutler
Incredibly, Jay Cutler (the football one, not the bodybuilder one) is one of the best quarterbacks in Chicago Bears history. He never won a Super Bowl and nearly threw as many interceptions as he did touchdowns, but the Bears don’t really have the most stellar history. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos and played with them for three years, after which he was traded to the Bears.
He played with them for eight seasons, and during that period, he led the league twice in interceptions thrown. And another time, he led the league in number of times being sacked. After the rest of his contract was bought out by the Bears, Cutler retired in 2016. However, in 2017, Miami reached out to him after Ryan Tannehill suffered a season-ending injury. It wasn’t a great place for him to play, though he did beat Tom Brady and the Patriots once.
Introduced to Media
After his single year with the Dolphins, Cutler decided to end his time on the field. He took to appearing in the show that his wife Kristin Cavallari had, “Very Cavallari.” This ended after the two separated and ended up getting divorced. Since that time, Cutler has become something of an entrepreneur. He’s started a subscription service called CUTS. It’s not a media service like Netflix – it actually contains meat.
Apparently, Jay Cutler has had a lifelong obsession with great steaks. The subscription service gives you fine CUTS of meat with every box. At least, that’s what the website’s ad copy says. Cutler has also created his own podcast, “Uncut,” which has plenty of episodes, but he hasn’t posted one since the fall of 2022. Perhaps it’s because, at that time, he launched the Gratis Brewing Company in Nashville.
Alex Tanney
Despite winning plenty of college awards and breaking almost all his school’s records, Alex Tanney went undrafted in the 2012 NFL draft. Afterward, he was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs. He quickly acquired a finger injury and was placed on injured reserve. After that, he started bouncing around the league, going from the Chiefs to the Cowboys to the Browns to the Buccaneers to the Titans. After that it was the Bills, then the Colts, and then...back to the Titans.
He made it onto the field for the first time on January 3rd, 2016, relieving the injured Zach Mettenberger, and he threw his first and only touchdown pass to Dorial Green-Beckham. After a few more years, he was signed by the New York Giants and was named the primary backup behind Eli Manning. After a few years with the Giants, Tanney announced his retirement on February 9, 2021.
One Level Up
Since stepping away from the huddle, Tanney has done what so many other quarterbacks do and gone into coaching. He was quickly brought into the coaching staff of the Philadelphia Eagles under head coach Nick Sirianni as an offensive quality control coach. The next year, he was bumped all the way up to assistant quarterbacks coach and offensive assistant coach.
Then, in 2023, he was promoted to quarterbacks coach, replacing Brian Johnson, who had been made the offensive coordinator. That’s only his third year as a coach in the NFL, and he’s already one step away from offensive coordinator. After that, who knows? Maybe it will be a head coaching position. Sirianni has raved about Tanney’s skills as a coach, saying he’s super intelligent and that he connects well with the players. After ten years in the NFL, that's a big boon.
Andrew Luck
Andrew Luck was one of the best quarterbacks for almost the entire 2010s, but in 2019 he shocked the football world when he announced his retirement. Luck was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 2012 as the first overall choice. He immediately proved that he was the right choice for the team, leading the team to eleven wins after their previous dismal 2-14 season (which was the only reason they could draft Luck in the first place).
The next two years, they had the same record – eleven wins and five losses. In 2014, he led the league in touchdown passes. That was also the year the Colts made a deep push into the playoffs, though they didn’t make it to the Super Bowl. Sadly, injuries quickly piled up for Luck, leading to him playing only one more full season in his career in 2018.
A Huge Suprise, Or Not?
To say that Andrew Luck’s retirement announcement was abrupt would be putting it mildly. After seven seasons, and before he even turned thirty, Luck told the entire world that he was done – and it was only two weeks before the start of the 2019 season. The injuries were just too much. As Luck said, the cycle of getting injured and recovering has taken all the joy out of the game.
He gave very few interviews or public appearances after that, but he would later go on to say that habits he had picked up during his time as a quarterback had been putting pressure on his marriage to his wife, Nicole. At the end of the day, he realized that his marriage was more important than success in football. Luck has returned to Stanford as a graduate student, working on a master’s degree in education.
Tee Martin
Tee Martin was picked up in the fifth round of the 2000 draft, but he didn’t throw a single pass during his entire rookie season – not too uncommon. In 2002, he was sent to NFL Europe to play with the Rhein Fire, helping them get a league-best 7-3 record, though the team lost in the World Bowl to the Berlin Thunder. He went back to the NFL for a little longer and eventually landed with the Oakland Raiders before being released.
The next year, he was part of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but that came to an end after a year. After only five seasons in the sport, Tee Martin was done. He netted a total of sixty-nine passing yards and thirty-six rushing yards and had one interception against a whopping zero touchdowns. He threw eight whole passes, and only three of them were properly caught.
Everyone Wanted Him
After he hung up his cleats, Tee Martin went into coaching. His coaching career began as the passing coordinator at Morehouse College in 2006. The next year, he would join North Cobb High School as their passing coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and then the next year, he would move to North Atlanta High School as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In 2009, he was hired by the University of New Mexico as their quarterbacks coach under head coach Mike Locksley. Martin continued to bounce around, rising in the ranks of the college arena.
He joined the University of Kentucky in 2010, then moved to the University of Southern California in February 2012. After several years there, he moved to the University of Tennessee in 2019 as an assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. Finally, in 2021, Martin joined the Baltimore Ravens as the wide receiver coach. After that, he became the quarterbacks coach in 2023.
Spergon Wynn
As the final quarterback in the 2000 draft before Tom Brady and as a sixth-round draft pick, Wynn was always going to be a long shot. The Browns took a gamble on him, but it didn’t work out the same way it did for the Pats. His pro career got off to a casual start, seeing action in seven games, including a single start... which was a forty-eight-to-zero loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ouch.
While at the Browns, Wynn completed twenty-two of fifty-four passes for a hundred and sixty-seven yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. He was sent to the European league to help develop his skills and then got back into the NFL. He was a third-string quarterback on the Minnesota Vikings behind Dante Culpepper and Todd Bouman for two seasons. The only touchdown of his career in the NFL came on December thirtieth against the Green Bay Packers.
Multiple Title Man
Wynn bounced around all over the football world until 2006 when the Toronto Argonauts let him go. After that, Wynn turned his focus back to the school. He was able to earn a bachelor of business administrator degree from Texas State, where he originally played college ball. He was always aware that football was likely going to be a short part of his life, and he wanted to be prepared for when the game ended.
In 2011, he earned an M.B.A. in energy risk management and energy finance from the University of Houston. Houston is known in some circles as the energy capital of the world, so the energy business was an easy choice for Wynn. He’s also put his sports experience to good use, as he’s the president of the coaching division at NextPage Sports, an agency that focuses on marketing and talent representation for college athletes and coaches.
Michael Vick
Vick’s time on the field was full of ups and downs from the moment he started playing for Virginia Tech Hokies after arriving in Blacksburg, Virginia. His extraordinary talent made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft.
Vick was considered by many as one of the youngest players to show such skills on the field. However, he got involved in some crimes and legal troubles, which forced him to remain behind bars for some time.
Fly Like an Eagle
Afterward, Vick’s talent provided him with a second chance to be a part of the Philadelphia Eagles, and he went on to earn a Pro Bowl selection and Comeback Player of the Year award in 2010.
Eventually, under the Chip Kelly regime, he was benched and released by the Eagles. Vick retired in 2015 after playing for the last time in the NFL. He appeared on Fox Sports in 2017 for the FOX NFL Kickoff show.
Matt Hasselbeck
The world first came to know Hasselbeck in the late 1990s as the player who was Brett Favre's backup in Green Bay. He then moved on to the Seattle Seahawks, who acquired him before the start of the 2001 season.
He played in the starting position for them throughout the entire time of the decade and achieved three Pro Bowl selections. It was because of him that the Seattle Seahawks got into the Super Bowl XL in 2005.
His Brother Took Him Along
Hasselback announced his retirement in 2016 and moved on to work with his brother Tim, who is an analyst for ESPN.
He was successful in replacing the super-famous head coach Mike Ditka on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown Show and also appears on the broadcast of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.
Brad Johnson
Johnson, one of the most famous quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, played in the World League of Football initially but then moved on to the position of a division-winning quarterback for the Washington Redskins. He also went on to become a Super Bowl champion with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
His career graph slumped after he started playing as a backup for the Dallas Cowboys and then called it quits in 2008.
Toys for Tots
Johnson has stayed out of the field post-retirement and engages himself in the support of several philanthropic organizations like the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Brad’s Buddies, Children’s Miracle Network, and Gillette Children’s Hospital.
He also takes an active part in Toys for Tots and United Way’s Hometown Huddle and is the host of a golf event that is beneficial for the Ronald McDonald House.
Mark Brunell
The Green Bay Packers chose quarterback Brunell as their 118th pick in the 1993 NFL draft from the University of Washington. But since Brett Favre was already playing for the Packers, Brunell did not get much space, unfortunately, to showcase his talents.
Brunell’s career was in no way perfect as he had played for only two games for the Packers, and later, the Jaguars traded him for a 3rd-round and 5th-round pick. However, his luck had a different shine when he played for Jacksonville! For this team, he became one of the best versatile quarterbacks ever, which eventually led to three trips to the Pro Bowl, as well as a string of contracts that were too hard to resist.
He Almost Lost it
All
Brunell was widely known for his investment habit; he invested his NFL earnings into several other business ventures. However, these businesses were not that successful, and by 2011, many people started saying that he had lost his money ($50 million) due to failed businesses and had gone completely bankrupt.
The legal documents stated that the player had invested his earnings into nine businesses, five of which sank badly. Most of his fortune got wasted on fast food chains and real estate projects, and all of these happened around Jacksonville. Brunell currently works as an NFL analyst for ESPN and is also the head coach of a school in Jacksonville.
Byron Leftwich
Leftwich wowed the world with his exceptional numbers that one might only get to see in the records made in video games! He made his mark at Marshall University and then went on to get selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2003 NFL Draft as the 7th overall pick.
Though initially he was a starting quarterback for the Jaguars, his career slowed down due to an unfortunate string of injuries, teamed up with immature decisions. Lastly, he was eventually replaced by David Garrard at the starting position.
Say Hi to The New Coach
In 2012, Leftwich called quits to his career after playing as a backup quarterback to Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. Bruce Arians, who used to coach Leftwich in Pittsburgh, appointed him as a coaching intern in 2016.
His career in coaching was promoted in January of 2017 when he became a quarterback coach from a mere intern.
Doug Flutie
A Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Boston College, his touchdown against the University of Miami became so famous that the pass came to be named a ‘Hail Flutie!’ He performed this famous touchdown pass in November 1984 and went from the USFL to the Chicago Bears.
When he became a part of the CFL, his records became so outstanding that he held the position of being a six-time winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award. After this, Flutie came back to the NFL and gained popularity for raising the trophy as a starting quarterback of the Buffalo Bills.
It Was The End
He called quits on his career after being with the San Diego Chargers and then with the New England Patriots for a brief period of time.
Later, Flutie became an analyst for college football, which was aired on ESPN and ABC. He was also a color commentator for Notre Dame Football on NBC Sports.
Vince Young
Young was one of the strongest players in the NFL and held the first position among all University of Texas quarterbacks. He achieved this status of popularity right when he was a junior and had quite a number of wins to his credit.
The Longhorns had been led by him to the 2005 BCS National Championship and supported the team enough to make them win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2006.
He Tried to Reunite
However, this promising talent’s career dissolved pretty soon owing to several accidents that happened off the field and a bitter relationship with a former head coach, Jeff Fisher. Though he primarily got himself out of the NFL in 2014, he made a fruitless attempt to make a comeback in football. He tried to team up with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL, but another injury thwarted this much-tried attempt.
Young has last been seen in an association of the University of Texas where he was a development officer for program alumni relations.
Drew Bledsoe
The world somehow was quick enough to forget Bledsoe, despite him being the saving grace for the New England Patriots! He was the 1st overall pick in the 1993 NFL Draft and was able to guide the Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI.
Bledsoe’s career made it to the headlines when he lost his job to Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time. For the remaining part of his career, which went on for five more years, he was a part of the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys, and lastly, a young quarterback named Tony Romo replaced him.
Let's Raise Glass
Bledsoe retired in 2007 and has been associated with fine winery ever since. Along with a close friend, he founded the famous Doubleback Winery.
This winery is so famous that one of the wines from this vineyard got a place in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines.
Donovan McNabb
From 1999 to 2009, McNabb has been in the position of starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. He was so successful during his time with the Eagles that he took his team to four NFC Championship games between 2001 and 2004! In Super Bowl XXXIX, he was able to give the Eagles a second Super Bowl appearance!
In 2010, when McNabb got traded away, it could be said that the man was an all-time leader for the Eagles, be it in his pass attempts, passing yards, completions, and touchdowns.
Sports Sports Sports
After their retirement, he went for the line of a television broadcaster and worked for Fox Sports 1, NFL Network, and ESPN Radio.
However, in the summer of 2015, McNabb saw a rough patch when he got arrested for DUI in Gilbert, Arizona, for which he was sentenced to a time of 18 days in prison.
Rich Gannon
Gannon was well-known to the world for his perseverance! His patience and endurance power made it possible for him to crawl back and make a place in Oakland, and this happened after many years when he used to be a spot-starter for the Redskins, Chiefs, and Vikings.
Everyone thought that he would never get the chance to be under center while being a part of the winning team, but a resolute Gannon proved everybody wrong when he finally became a part of the Raiders in 1999.
A Huge Inspiration
Gannon rose to fame when he took Oakland to the Super Bowl in 2003 and also won an NFL MVP. His story is quite inspiring and is considered as one of the best comeback stories in the history of NFL.
He took his retirement in 2005 and has been a game analyst for CBS since then. He has also made a mark on satellite radio by doing broadcast work.
Jake Delhomme
Delhomme’s story can be considered an inspiration for many, for he has been a true underdog in the history of the NFL! Like many of his contemporaries, he started his career as an undrafted rookie for the Saints and climbed up the stairs of success to become a franchise quarterback for the Panthers. The surprising and inspiring part is that Delhomme did this in just a span of only five years!
Though his stats never defied any chart or made any world record, Delhomme had the potential to play pretty well, and he consistently made Carolina a viable contender. In 2004, he succeeded in making a Super Bowl with them, but in vain, as they ultimately lost it to the Patriots.
Bank Manager
He currently holds the position of the Chairman of the Board for MidSouth Bank and follows a stint on the Board of Directors.
This career can be considered quite a successful one post-NFL, as he is not at all content to rest on his laurels. In addition to that, Delhomme has been a spokesperson for the Bojangles fast food restaurant and has also been seen in many of their commercials.
Jake Plummer
Plummer was one of those NFL quarterbacks who did not have that great a personality and maintained a rather low profile. Like several other players in the league, he did not have a flashy demeanor that could land him a place in the news!
During his time with the Cardinals, the team tried their best to develop him into a franchise quarterback, but his level never matched up to the expectations. But having said that, Plummer was quite good in the field when he used to be at his best.
Digging Into Detail
At present, Plummer works as a PAC-12 analyst for the network of the same conference, which he started around 2013.
After leaving football, he has been a part of handball and has also taken part in several tournaments.
Quincy Carter
The world was first introduced to Carter when he became a replacement for Troy Aikman. However, it was the failure of the Cowboys that they were not able to develop him into a franchise player.
The man had an immense love for football. For this reason, after giving way to a series of failed stints with the Jets in Dallas, he kept on trying to bounce back to several peripheral leagues. Carter did not stop because of the blocks that he had faced and tried to play the game in any possible way.
Things Had to Come to an End
During his professional career in the field, Carter had also played the role of an independent youth football coach in Georgia, his hometown. His recent account holds a team-up with the Corpus Christi Fury of the American Indoor Football League, but this came to a halt in 2016.
Nobody can say whether Carter will continue to play or not, but every person will agree to the fact that the man left no stone unturned to give it a shot for playing the game.
Trent Green
Green is truly one of the most underrated quarterbacks of his generation. He had a rough start where he had to overcome a low-round draft pick and a stint in the CFL. But by the end of everything, he had braved all the hardships and had a good career overall.
The Chiefs had him as a consistent option at the position, and he was right at the threshold of some of the best seasons in the franchise’s history.
Overshadowed
But Green did not get the recognition he deserved since he got overshadowed by some of the other players in the Y2K era. Needless to say, he did not have a long career and had moved on to broadcasting after retirement.
Currently, he has become an analyst for CBS and has received many humanitarian awards. Though Green could not make a prominent mark anywhere, his career never came to a standstill.
Kerry Collins
One of the most anticipated and hyped quarterback draft picks in the history of NFL, Collins was taken by the Panthers as the 5th overall in 1995.
Since he was highly addicted to alcohol, Carolina made him depart after a certain point in time. However, with his skills, he came back as a starter with the Raiders, Giants, and Titans and shaped a shining career for himself. Everyone knows him as a name that comes in the top 20 all-time in total passing yards in the NFL.
Sing Us A Song
After retiring in 2011, Collins wanted to be a songwriter. The man has a great passion for music and has many songs recorded by several country artists.
He is the owner of a ranch in North Carolina and a farm in Tennessee and seems to be leading quite a content life after moving away from being in front of the limelight for sixteen long years.
Kordell Stewart
Stewart had a huge fan base because of the extraordinary performance that he showed during his time with the Steelers. His arm talent could be considered to be average as compared to other players, but his scrambling ability earned him a special mention among others.
Stewart’s ability had such an elite touch to it that he served as Pittsburgh’s quarterback at the time of the late '90s.
Not The Best
He was not that successful as a second-round pick and proved to be quite a disappointment for many a time. But then again, he was identifiable and had the potential to break a highlight reel play.
His career ended in 2005, and since then, he has analyzed plenty of NFL for various outlets. Stewart even has his own talk show on the radio. There was a hum that he might return to football after a break, but that fizzled out after some time.
Vinny Testaverde
Testaverde is known to everyone as the true Iron Man. He had an incredible start in his college career with the Miami Hurricanes and then went on to get selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as No. 1 overall in the 1987 NFL Draft. His career had a kick in the very beginning, something that many players do not have the luck to experience.
Would you believe it if you knew that Testaverde had a span of twenty-one years on the field? Yes, it is that unfathomable! The veteran player achieved his first Pro Bowl selection at his 10th year in the league. He was thirty-three years old at that time and was in his 1st year with the Baltimore Ravens. Two years down the line, he had his second selection again in 1998 during his first year with the New York Jets.
The Final Countdown
Testaverde's career has been promising, so much so that during his final season with the Carolina Panthers, he took charge when Jake Delhomme got injured, and he did this at the shocking age of forty-four!
After his retirement, Testaverde went back to the place where he initiated his football career - Florida. Vincent, his son, played in the football team of Tampa’s Jesuit High School, where he became a coach after his retirement. Apart from that, Testaverde has never been much in the limelight after his career was over.
Chad Pennington
How important it is to stay healthy can be understood in the best way if you look at Pennington's career graph! An all-around athlete and an outstanding quarterback, this man’s career was cut short only due to the fact that he did not care to look after his health. His time in the field, from 2000-2008, promised the world a great bout of talent, but the people never got to see much of him outside the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.
Back in 2002, Pennington showed himself to the world as the Jets starting quarterback. He had so much potential that he could turn around a 1-4 team to 9-7, eventually turning them into playoffs. But in the very next season, he had a fatal accident that gave him a rotator cuff injury. He had to go through surgery twice since he again got badly injured in the cuffs in the following season. The man made a phenomenal comeback in 2006, which gave him the title of the Comeback Player of the Year. Though he had a not-so-good 2007 outing, the Dolphins signed him, and he passed for a sensational 67.4 completion percentage. All of this earned him a place in the MVP discussion, and Pennington is the only man who has received the Comeback Player of the Year twice.
In And Out of Hospital
The only drawback of this outstanding player was that he neglected his health to a great extent, which took a toll on him. Not only a number of injuries. He had several surgeries, including a shoulder one, but he also had a torn ACL.
However, he finally decided to give his body a well-deserved rest. He lives at Kentucky as a coach of a middle school football team and then had restarted a football program at Sayre School in Lexington.
Jon Kitna
Kitna had quite a long NFL career, though it was not always pretty! The first time he made it to the news was when he came out of Central Washington like a bright star but went undrafted in 1996!
Starting his career as a backup, he had to slowly work his way up to the top for a starting role by 1999. During the initial phase, he made a place for himself in the Seattle Seahawks practice squad and even earned MVP honor in NFL Europe. It was a great achievement for him when he slowly but steadily climbed up from an undrafted position to a starter and then went on to finish the season with a winning record!
Sailing Smooth
But it was not all smooth for Kitna; he had a rough phase in four games in 2008. He had started as a doomed member of the Detroit Lions that finished the season 0-16. But the world knows him as a fighter as he always, in his 14-year-long career, bounced back from a backup to a starting position.
Kitna finally announced his retirement in 2011, but that never marked an end to his football career. He came back to Tacoma and took up the job of a coach at Lincoln High School. He continued with this for three years and then became a coach at Waxahachie High School in Texas.
David Carr
The Raiders boast about having a real star in the name of Quarterback Derek Carr, but way before this, there was his older brother’s name appearing on the NFL scouts’ radar - David Carr. Both the brothers graduated out of Fresno State, and David Carr was considered literally a hot commodity!
People had rocket-high expectations from Carr when he came into the 2002 NFL Draft. A new expansion team, the Houston Texans, made sure that their No. 1 overall pick was held in Carr. The Texans started their game in the franchise history with an absolute bang and quite easily defeated the fellow Texas team, the Dallas Cowboys, 19-10 right at home. This had as good a mark as that of Carr’s rookie season, with the Texans finishing at 4-12.
A World Record
A rough start spelled as a telling sign of his career. During his rookie season, he was sacked an NFL record seventy-nine times! Then he went on to have two more seasons, which had led the league in the sack department.
The most prominent highlight of his NFL career came on the sideline as the New York Giants' backup quarterback when the G-Men took down the Patriots to win Super Bowl XLVI.
Christian Ponder
There are a few hypothetical theories that roam around the NFL, like the 12th pick in the draft is supposed to have a longer lifespan in the field, and the player should be able to start all sixteen games in multiple seasons. However, these theories never came true in the case of the Vikings and Ponder; reality was far from the hypothetical considerations!
When Ponder came out of Florida State in 2011, he was a much-hyped quarterback that the world wanted to see more of! People pinned so much hope on him that they considered him to be the one who would sail the Vikings’ ship alone! He achieved the respect and awe of his teammates by setting rookie records but soon got injured severely. He joined the league as a member of a draft which was spectacularly weak from a quarterback standpoint. Along with Ponder, Blaine Gabbert and Jake Locker were all a part of this draft and had to struggle a lot in the first round.
Bad Back
The world saw streaks of great potential in Ponder when he joined the Vikings, but he fizzled out due to the injury bug. He did a sophomore campaign, and suddenly, after that, he would never start more than 9 games, due to which he got shoved into as a backup. He had signed up for two teams, where he was in the backup position, but retired pretty soon.
Ponder moved to Minnesota after being done with the NFL officially, as his injury had made this former first-rounder practically useless in the field. However, he lives a content and peaceful personal life with wife Samantha Steele, an ESPN reporter, and two kids.
Jeff George
George is mainly characterized by a nasty arm and a nastier mullet. With these plus points, as well as an impressive college career, he was the topmost choice and became the first overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. During this time, the Indianapolis Colts had also gambled on the gunslinger.
George’s professional front was far from impressive. For a top overall pick, he only managed to lead two different teams into the playoffs. Though he had some success, everyone mainly considered him a fickle-minded person who had bounced around in 8 teams in a span of 14 seasons! Apart from four seasons, he did not bother to start in all sixteen games in any of the other seasons whatsoever.
Runs in the Family
George retired from the fields pretty soon. He has appeared in front of the camera quite a few times, all the while maintaining a decent and somber personality. Jeff George Jr., his son, has been carrying on his legacy and is now a quarterback at the University of Michigan.
Though Jeff George never quite fulfilled the expectations that people had of him, many consider him one of the purest passers in the history of football. He is indeed a rare talent when giving his best in the field, albeit with a poisonous attitude!
Jeff Garcia
Garcia has quite a number of fans, and rightly so! His accomplishments include 12 seasons in the league, 4 playoff appearances, and 4 Pro Bowls. These accolades won the hearts of many NFL fanatics and made him one of the best-accomplished quarterbacks of all time. Garcia made his mark with the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he was associated for five years. Before his time in the Bay, he showcased his talent in the CFL, and it was through the CFL that he showed to the world that he had it in himself to make it to the NFL!
The time that Garcia had spent in San Fran had both the ingredients of turmoil and success! He had quite a tumultuous equation with Terrell Owens, who had reportedly commented about Garcia’s sexuality. Owens had gone to the extent of referring to Garcia as a rat! From this statement, everybody understood the kind of bitter-sour relationship that Owens had with the QBs! After Garcia left the 49ers, he jumped around to several teams to get the starting position. Along with this, he had to go through a lot of injuries. After a bit of lumping around, he finally found his foot in Tampa Bay, where he was selected to his fourth and final Pro Bowl, and he did all of these while leading the Bucs to the playoffs.
Happily Married
Garcia’s life after retirement has been pretty satisfactory. Married to the former Playmate of the Year Carmella DeCesare, he runs a non-profit like many other players.
He has also tried to try his hand in the coaching scene, which includes a few stints in the CFL and a personal coach for the likes of Mark Sanchez and Tyrod Taylor.
Tim Couch
Back in 1999, the Browns had come into the NFL as an extension team and were provided with the first pick in the NFL draft. With that first go, they took the decision to address the quarterback position by selecting Tim Couch, who was a major part of the University of Kentucky. Most of the world considers him as a massive bust, but there is yet some space for this accusation to get any proof. He does not have a record of selling any weapons and got drafted to an expansion team, which was, at that time, building right from scratch. In fact, his offensive line was often compared to a porous rock, as in a rock that would have done a better job at blocking than his line.
The reason why Couch could not survive in the field for more than five years was due to the multiple numbers of times he had been subjected to injury. In a total of these five years, it was only during one season that he had more touchdowns to his credit than interceptions. He tried to make comebacks in the NFL by signing with many teams, but unfortunately, he could never step out of the preseason.
Announcer
After his retirement, Couch had resorted to announcing just like most of the quarterbacks. He has recently become the announcer for the Browns preseason games and has called the SEC games.
Though the world expected that Couch would be relevant in bringing back the Browns into relevancy, people were disappointed. For his announcing career, he received unflinching support from his wife, Heather Kozar, a famous Playboy model.
Josh Freeman
Freeman, freshly out of Kansas State, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the 17th overall in 2009. The Buccaneers had a vision in their mind that he, with his 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, would lead their team deep into the playoffs. They thought that this person would instill a sense of fear into the opposing defenses every Sunday! If there were so many expectations, what would have gone wrong then? The Buccaneers did not take into account the fact that this quarterback would be with the team only for 5 seasons and be a part of the league for only a total of 7! In fact, he went against everyone's expectations so much that the world was shell-shocked to find him lastly winding up with the Brooklyn Bolts of the Fall Experimental Football League.
During his 5th season in Tampa, Freeman was released when they found zero suitors willing to trade for the former first-rounder. After this, the Vikings signed him only for one game. He then spent some time jumping around with the FXFL before ultimately signing with the Colts. Even then, he did not play for more than one match, and this obviously brought an inevitable end to his NFL career!
A Two year Offer
Freeman had not been much in the news after his retirement from the NFL. He was elected to hang up the cleats rather than play in the CFL, where he got an offer from Montreal for two years.
Today, the world knows Freeman for being the Tampa Bay franchise leader for touchdowns thrown, but most are of the opinion that it should soon belong to Jameis Winston.
Jake Locker
Ever since Orton retired in one of the most unique ways in the history of retirements, he has maintained a low profile. He lives with his wife and children in Baton Rouge. His marriage brought a drastic change in him; there are no more sloshed and wasted pictures of him throughout college and NFL, and he had groomed himself out of that weirdly shaped but his signature neck-beard. Orton keeps family photographs, which show how happy and content he is in his life, and he also sports a clean-shaven look. However, the world will remember him for being one of the most frustrating quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.
At the University of Washington, Locker was one of the topmost talents and amazed the scouts with his extraordinary potential and intangibles. The Titans, in 2006, were all grumbling at their own disappointing pick in Vince Young and had jumped viciously all over Locker. However, his career did not get the hype as promised since he only started twenty-three out of sixty-four possible games in a span of over four years. He had to undergo a series of injuries in the upper and lower parts of his body, and this stopped the former college star from shining brightly in his professional field.
No Pain, No Gain
The Fact That Locker had endured so much pain did not actually yield any result, as his paychecks were not worth it. Eventually, he announced his retirement during the 2014 season. After his retirement, Locker went back to Washington and now leads a simple life there with his wife and kids. He prefers to remain out of the focus of the camera and avoids meeting fans as much as he can. Locker totally barred the part of his life where he was on the field and now spends his time hunting, taking care of animals on the farm, and being a completely doting father to his children.
Everyone who has been a Titan fan might flinch at the prospect of what they could have been. The way they had to draft three quarterbacks right in the top ten to weigh the options on which one would work out is just sad! But Locking doing away with his career in football has been a blessing in disguise.
Kyle Orton
The world saw the rise of Orton in a very conflicted way; you would initially hate him but then slowly start growing on him! He had a very unconventional look and did not win many hearts with his strange haircuts and the odd neck-beard. Weirdly, he somehow never had the ability to express his emotions and take charge of the games. Yet his fans saw him play in the field for ten long years and even become a consistent starter for many teams.
Orton started his career with the Chicago Bears in 2005, where he was kept as a backup. He forayed into the limelight when he got to play in the place of starting Quarterman Rex Grossman, who had to face a severe injury. This opportunity proved to be a golden chance for Orton, and he grabbed it to showcase his talent in front of the world. However, despite starting for a number of teams, he never really made any significant mark on his career.
Keeping Quiet
Orton might not have never made it to the headlines because of his matches, he became the talk of the town on the account of his retirement! He made it quite dramatic, but without bringing out his emotions! He went into the locker room, which was obviously full of his teammates, and told them he was to go attend a meeting. He grabbed a few of his belongings and left, obviously never coming back again!
Ever since Orton retired in one of the most unique ways in the history of retirements, he has maintained a low profile. He lives with his wife and children in Baton Rouge. His marriage brought a drastic change in him; there are no more sloshed and wasted pictures of him throughout college and NFL, and he had groomed himself out of that weirdly shaped but his signature neck-beard. Orton keeps family photographs, which show how happy and content he is in his life, and he also sports a clean-shaven look. However, the world will remember him for being one of the most frustrating quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.
Jason Campbell
The Washington Redskins, while representing the NFC East, have been a perennial dumpster fire. The Redskins have such a bad reputation that even many of the former players do not fail to criticize it. This mainly happened due to their poor drafts and how alarmingly fast they used to change their coaches.
After such a stand, when the Redskins, in 2005, drafted Auburn quarterback Campbell 25th overall, everyone got their spirits lifted quite obviously! People pinned their hopes on Campbell since he had just led Auburn to a perfect season in the SEC and had achieved a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. When the Redskins drafted him, the management saw a ray of hope for their new franchise quarterback!
Three Teams In Three Years
Campbell was quite efficient in his plays but could never set a winning record for Washington. With a series of changes in his life, his career met a downfall. He had to deal with so many varieties of coaching and personnel changes, along with a slew of injuries, that totally altered his career in Washington. When in 2010 he was traded to Oakland, people thought that Campbell’s career would see an upliftment now, but even then, injuries marred a promising season. He played two seasons for the Black and Silver and then changed three teams in three years before calling it quits altogether.
However, being a sportsperson, Campbell shifted to golf after retiring from football. He lives in Atlanta now and is a quarterback coach (as a side gig) for a local high school team. It has been often seen that Campbell has quite frequently advised the aspiring players to avoid playing for Washington by any means.
David Garrard
If you are a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, then you definitely know Garrard as the star of the team! However, he could hold the spot only for a number of seasons and was a Pro Bowler during the 2009 season. In 2002, the East Carolina University drafted him out in the 4th round. He started his career in a bit bumpy way and started on the field as a backup to Byron Leftwich.
Beginning his time as a backup, he initially thought that luck did not favor him, but little did he know how injury-prone Leftwich was! The world got acquainted with Garrard's talents on multiple occasions, such as when Leftwich got injured and had to play instead of Leftwich season after season.
2010 Was The Final One
Eventually, Garrard was offered the starting job, but he could not rise far because of the multiple times he had to face injury because of a decimated and inept offensive line. As everyone knows the Jaguars has been one of the most incompetent franchises of the NFL, they released Garrard in 2011 and chose Blaine Gabbert as his successor. However, this pick was not suitable at all and crashed almost immediately. He played for the last time in the league in 2010. Though later he signed with two other teams as a free agent, his recurring injuries did not allow him to suit up ever again.
Garrard did not give in to lethargy to take over him after his retirement. To maintain his NFL-fit body, he started his own lineup of fitness centers. He owns quite a number of Retro Fitness gyms and claims that being the head of a business is the greatest feeling ever. The man had to face hardships his entire life, for he had Crohn’s disease. Garrard has been quite active in raising awareness against this disease and the battles that anyone might have to go through. He declares himself to be a proud mentor for children and professional athletes all over America, including NBA player Larry Nance Jr.
Marc Bulger
The way Bulger climbed the stairs of stardom was unexpected for the world but no less remarkable in so many ways! Though he was drafted by the Saints in the 6th round out of West Virginia in 2000, he got waived before the end of the season. Again, Atlanta signed him as a practice squad player and then got waived. Ultimately, at the end of everything, the world saw him getting accepted in St. Louis, where he began as a practice squad player and then got promoted to backup. But his career melted down due to a long list of recurring injuries, due to which he left football and went into the starting lineup.
Bulger was named to 2 Pro Bowl teams and retained his starting job. It was at this time that he lead the Rams into playoffs on two occasions. To his credit, Bulger holds the record of the fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach one thousand completions. This completion impressed the higher authorities so much so that this former backup player earned himself a new contract! Because of his striking numbers, Bulger was the highest-paid player in the history of the Rams.
Things Were Going Down the Hill
However, this exceptionally talented player could not match up to people's expectations. His once-promising career went downhill because of a number of severe injuries that he had to endure, as well as the changes to the coaching staff. He spent nine years of his career in St. Louis. After leaving St. Louis, Baltimore signed him for a year as a backup, though he never set foot in the field again.
Bulger’s fans were quite disappointed after his retirement. However, the player has a content personal life; he lives on a lush, sprawling farm in Southeast Missouri with his wife and children. He got himself engaged in maintaining the farm almost on a daily basis and later founded the Marc Bulger Foundation. It helps other organizations that help veterans and children financially.
Brady Quinn
Quinn is considered as one of the most hyped quarterbacks coming out of the college. While the NFL is famous for never letting a player play for long, he is somebody whose career never got off the ground. He left Notre Dame after playing as one of the school’s most decorated players and then, in 2007, went on to the Cleveland Browns, who selected the polished and new him with the twenty-second overall pick.
However, Quinn’s time with the Browns did not last long. He played for only three last seasons quarterbacking and then shifted to four other teams. For a seven-year-long career, he never played for more than 9 games in one season. In fact, his interceptions were better than his touchdowns; he only had twelve touchdowns, which is a lot less compared to his seventeen interceptions. If looked at carefully, it can be said that Quinn’s success rate at the professional level was a stark difference from that at his college level.
It's All In The Family
Quinn’s life outside the field spells a different story altogether. He tied the knot with Alicia Sacramone, who is an Olympic silver medalist in gymnastics.
The 3rd and Goal Foundation, run by him, is a non-profit organization that helps veterans to find housing and lodging. Apart from remaining busy in his organization, Quinn can often be seen as a television analyst on Fox.
Rex Grossman
In Super Bowl XLI, the world got divided. In their opinion, the Chicago Bears were defeated by the Indianapolis Colts. While half of the people went crazy over Peyton Manning having his first Super Bowl victory, the other half (mostly Chicago fans) hated the match because of the rain, turning it into a sloppy one! Most of the people detested Bear’s QB Rex Grossman’s performance, so much so that they threw an interception that ultimately sealed the game.
Though he played for nearly six seasons for the Bears, Grossman has only near about sixteen full games to his credit. Many people referred to him as Rex Glassman since he had severe durability issues. He could not hold himself together when the Bears decided to move on from their 1st round project. After the Texans signed him, Grossman moved to Washington.
Time For Business
He spent his time on the field mostly as a backup and a mentor and spent 3 out of 4 seasons like this as a Redskin. However, Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin III were helped to a great extent by this. Since the world does not find Grossman anymore on the field throwing the ball downfield to whoever is ready to take it from him, he spends his time nowadays in the business world.
The Florida Medical Staffing is a foundation that he founded, and it helps to assist nurses in Florida who wish to get employment there. It has not yet been in the news about how he has fared in this field, but sources say that the foundation has found some success. However, the nurses should not get intercepted on the way to their new jobs.
Daunte Culpepper
What is the recurring word that you constantly hear while following the NFL quarterbacks? ‘A player has been injured!’ Injury is the most common theme in the lives of the players and has the capability to ruin someone’s career! While some players are able to get themselves back on the field after a gap, others might not be that lucky. Culpepper had the share of both sides of the extremes. He lost his mojo after experiencing a devastating knee injury.
In the 1999 NFL Draft, the Vikings took the UCF quarterbacks with the eleventh pick. Culpepper, during his time as a Viking, made a record-breaking career by overthrowing the great Randy Moss.
He Almost Crumbled
His career had such an uplift at this time that he became a cover athlete for Madden 2002. But as the saying goes, Madden cover invariably comes with a Madden curse, and Culpepper’s performance had a severe downfall during the 2002 season. Once more, during the 2005 season, he failed to make a mark with his performance when his knee had to bear the brunt of one of the worst injuries in the history of the NFL! Due to a tackle by Chris Gamble, Culpepper’s knee bone almost crumbled to dust, and this naturally forced QB to miss out on the rest of the season. However, after this destructive injury, he has struggled to maintain his form and could never perform in more than six matches in a season.
Not only did he have to face numerous injuries, but there was also much opposition from the authorities side as well for Culpepper. As a last resort, he tried to claw back into the game by signing with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of UFL. Though he tried his best, this could not give him his prior place, and no NFL team offered to take him again. Culpepper’s life after retirement was not easy either. He lost one of his grand mansions, located in South Florida, in a foreclosure agreement and also had to do away with his eponymous restaurant in Florida.
Byron Leftwich
Don’t you remember Leftwich for the famous playing-with-a-broken-bone incident? Mostly known for making a mark at Marshall, the world remembers Leftwich today for brave-heartedly finishing a drive while their shin bone had been cracked! In his bid against Akron, he made sure that the people did not forget him too soon. However, if you are an ardent follower of the NFL, you would, of course, know that injuries are an inherent part of the players’ lives in the NFL quarterbacks.
Jacksonville took him as a seventh overall in the 2003 NFL Draft. Though he was a part of Jacksonville for the entire four seasons, his luck had been hard on him, and he could never play a full season due to several injuries. When he left the Jags, Leftwich had been summoned by various teams. One among these was Pittsburgh, for whom, in 2009, he had even won a Super Bowl ring as a backup.
Never Realy Said Goodbye
Leftwich did not leave football entirely and became a coach afterward. He built up his career in Arizona as a quarterback coach intern. His luck shone within a span of one year; Leftwich was offered the position of a full-time coach.
As a successful coach, his testing time came when, on 10th April 2018, Josh Rosen was drafted by the Cardinals as the tenth overall. It rests upon Rosen’s career now, which will determine whether Leftwich will be considered for the head coaching position.
Joey Harrington
Harrington is a perfect example of fizzling out when being too good too soon! He appeared on the cover of NCCA Football 2013, a video game, but he could not take this success up to a professional level. Though he had quite a success in college, his name started to fade. At Oregon, Harrington had a compilation of 25-3 records in the span of his successful four-year career. After this period, which included bowl games as well, he declared for the NFL draft. The highest point of his career was when the Detroit Lions considered him third overall in the 2002 NFL draft.
Though this was considered to be the peak of his career, Harrington had reportedly said that the four seasons in Detroit were so horrible that it averted his interest in football altogether. It seems that Detroit certainly has a reputation for playing with people’s emotions when it comes to football!
Life After Football
If you have to look carefully, then Harrington’s life after football spells more of a success story than his years on the field. His football career had a span of six years (unsuccessful ones at that!), and he had been lugging the ball for three different teams.
After his retirement, he opened a fancy sports-themed bar, which did not run for a long time. Then, he tried his hand at becoming a TV personality for Fox Sports and ultimately founded the Harrington Family Foundation. He now works in this foundation and helps to gather funds for students going for higher education in Oregon.