The 10 Worst Starting NFL Quarterbacks Of The 1990s
The 1990s were a great time for quarterbacks in the NFL. There were older guys like Joe Montana still doing well, but also a bevy of great young talents like Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Steve Young and others. They pushed a new style with quarterbacks having stronger arms and evolving the game. Even some QBs otherwise so-so could seem better in this time (Stan Humphries may not be a great QB but got the Chargers to a Super Bowl). It was a great era for many QBs.
But of course, there had to be some bad ones. Some guys weren’t too awful, they were just on bad teams and could shine in some games. Yet there were scores of guys who had no business being starters. The worst were those who were stars in college but never came close to replicating that success in the pros. These are ten of the worst starting QBs of the ‘90s to show not every guy in the NFL that decade could work out.
10 Rick Mirer
Look at his first season and you’d think Rick Mirer was a future Hall of Famer. After a stellar run at Notre Dame that had him hyped as the next Joe Montana, Mirer was drafted by the Seahawks and set rookie records for attempts, completions and yards.
But he never came close to that achievement in later seasons, with his numbers dropping every season. He was traded to Chicago for a miserable run then the Bears, Jets and Raiders along with brief non-playing stays in San Francisco and Detroit. It’s stunning to see how Mirer went from rookie sensation to flop in record time.
9 Dave Brown
One of the best QBs in Duke history, Dave Brown was snatched by the Giants in the 1992 supplemental draft and was injured in his first game. That set a bad tone for his career. He did help the G-Men to a 9-7 record in 1994, but his numbers weren’t quite stellar, an overall 54.4 completion percentage.
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The Giants won a combined 11 games over the next two years and had the worst offense in the NFL in 1996. He was dropped in 1997 for some forgettable years as a backup in Arizona before retiring in 2001. At his best, Brown was a mediocre QB but when he was bad, he was awful.
8 Jeff George
The tragedy of Jeff George is that he genuinely could have been a superstar. He was the no.1 pick in the 1990 draft, taken by the Colts and looked good to start his career. But then the bad came in with George losing 35 of 49 starts through 1993 with 41 TD passes and 46 interceptions.
The worst part was George’s attitude clashing with coaches and management, which sent him on a journey to the Falcons, Raiders, Vikings, Washington, Seahawks and Bears. He had a good 1997 campaign but that was mired from being on poor teams. Ultimately, his ego was his own worst enemy to make George one of the biggest #1 draft busts ever.
7 Todd Marinovich
There are stories of parents who try to turn their kids into a star from the time they can walk. Few suffered from that like Todd Marinovich. He was featured in Sports Illustrated and other magazines as a top star trained by his parents and he had a good start at USC but red flags popped up, such as him skipping classes. Drafted by the Raiders in 1991 (ahead of Brett Favre), he became the full starter the next year.
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But he was soon overwhelmed by addiction, ending up with a total of 1,345 yards and a 66.4 rating before being kicked out of the league over his problems. It’s a bit unfair because of his issues, but there's no denying how bad Marinovich was in the NFL.
6 Billy Joe Tolliver
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A QB with fantastic college stats fails to click in the pros. Billy Joe Tolliver had stellar numbers at Texas Tech, including several school records with the Chargers trading several picks to take him in the 1989 draft.
He suffered a preseason injury before getting the starter job, spending the next few years with as many interceptions as touchdowns and was eventually traded to the Falcons before bad stints with the Oilers and Saints. His overall rating of 67.7 was rougher than it seems as Tolliver never worked in the NFL.
5 David Klingler
Like many on this list, David Klingler was a terrific college star, setting the NCAA record with 54 touchdown passes in 1990 for Houston. He went in the first round to the Bengals and swiftly fell hard as a starter.
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He never got over a 55% completion rating with a TD to interception ratio of 16-22. He lost the starter job before being sent to Oakland, where arm surgery pretty much ruined what was left of his career. Klinger joined the long list of would-be Bengals saviors who ended up disasters.
4 Stan Gelbaugh
For a guy nicknamed “The Blueprint,” Stan Gelbaugh didn’t have much in terms of a winning plan. He had started in the 1980s with Buffalo before some success in the World Football League. That got him a stint with the Cardinals, before signing with Seattle in 1992.
He was supposed to be the third-string but got the starting job after both Dan McGuire and Kelly Stouffer went down to injury. Despite a good Monday nght game, he finished the season with a 47.5 completion percentage and 0-8 record. He was back on the bench before retiring in 1996 for another rough time for Seattle.
3 Heath Shuler
Currently a U.S. Congressman, Heath Shuler has seen more success there than in his playing days. One of the SEC’s best passers, Shuler held a few records at Tennessee before Peyton Manning came along and was second in the Heisman Trophy voting.
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He was a first-round pick by Washington but held out for a big contract. However, Shuler couldn’t come close to pro success, including five interceptions in one game and being benched for Gus Frerotte. He was traded to the Saints, where injuries curtailed his output, finishing with a 54.3 rating. At least he rebounded in politics to put his pro crash behind him.
2 Steve Walsh
One of Jimmy Johnson’s odder moves with the Dallas Cowboys was using a draft pick on Steve Walsh, his former QB at Miami, when they already had Troy Aikman. Johnson really seemed to think Walsh could be a good starter when it was obvious Aikman was the better choice.
They finally traded Walsh off and he actually seemed to be doing well, leading the Saints to an 8-8 record. But it was downhill from there with stays in Chicago, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. He ended his career with a 54.1 passer rating and 40-50 TD-interception ratio to show how dumping him was a smart move by Dallas.
1 Ryan Leaf
It takes a lot to be one of the worst QBs of the ‘90s when you played in just the last two years of the decade. Yet Ryan Leaf managed to pull it off. Drafted in 1998 at no.2 with huge expectations, Leaf proceeded to have one of the most epic self-destructions of any NFL career.
Besides blow-ups with coaches, Leaf finished 1998 with a QB rating of 39.0, including two touchdowns against 15 interceptions. He then missed the 1999 season due to injury and a possible comeback in 2000 ended badly. Leaf stands as one of the greatest draft busts in history as well as one of the worst starting QBs ever.
