The 9 Most Overrated QBs in NFL History

9) Donovan McNabb – McNabb had many faults, of course. He’s been known to miss an open receiver, abandon proper footwork, and to rush his throws to the point where they end up in the dirt. In his bid to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, he fell short. And of course, there was McNabb’s worst offense of all — failing to know that a regular-season game could end in a tie. Oh, the shame!

8) Warren Moon – I have a lot of respect for Warren Moon because he wasn’t afraid to let that ball fly, I mean the guy has some staggering yardage numbers…it’s just where that ball goes is the problem. Warren Moon was selected to play in the Pro Bowl a total of nine times and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Warren Moon himself even said during his Hall of Fame speech that he wasn’t deserving of first-ballot recognition due to his mediocre play. Warren had only one more win than losses in his total career, a completion percentage of 58.4, and an overall QB rating of 80.9. His playoff numbers were horrific but at least Warren isn’t afraid to let people know that he is great but also flawed. The biggest problem for Moon may have been the first five years he played in the CFL. Give him back those five years and he may have changed my mind about his greatness.

7) Peyton Manning – I’m not saying this because of his last few years, I’m saying this because his overall career has been nothing short of amazing in the regular season. Unfortunately, the opposite can be said of his postseason play.

6) Bob Griese – Griese was never a really touchdown stat compiler, the most he threw in a single season was 22 and he threw 172 interceptions in a total of 161 games. That’s one staggering stat, also his QB rating of 77.1 should tell you that it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops during his pro-football career. If you say the Dolphins couldn’t have succeeded without him, remember the perfect season of 1972, more games were played by Earl Morrall than Griese.

5) Brett Favre – Brett Favre did some incredible things, especially with his consecutive starting streak but he was overrated. Brett Favre constantly threw bad interceptions and his poor decision-making continued into the later years of his career when he should have known better. If you watch the piece that was put together about the top 10 plays of his career it says it all. Almost everyone was during a regular-season game. He owns the NFL’s interception record and, almost all other turnover records. He could have cemented his legend status in Super Bowl XXXII, he had the ball with over a minute left and a chance to tie the game, and he promptly went four and out.

4) Archie Manning – Archie Manning was never really considered a great quarterback. With two sons in the NFL and the rising of Drew Brees you always hear his name. To those who don’t know any better would assume that he was a great quarterback. In fifteen seasons he had 23, 911 yards, 125 touchdowns, and 173 interceptions. He had 48 more interceptions than touchdowns. Also, never reached the playoffs in his career. His record as a starting quarterback was 35-101-3 and only completed 55.2% of his passes. Of course, you always hear the big IF brought up, if he would have had a better team around him? Whatever! He was not a very good quarterback, end of discussion.

3) Dan Fouts – San Diego doesn’t have the best history with quarterbacks but when they get an above-average one, boy do they praise him, and Dan Fouts is one of those guys. Don’t get me wrong, Fouts was one of the most prolific quarterbacks during the 70s and 80s but he may just be… overrated. Dan Fouts spent his entire career with the San Diego Chargers after being drafted by the team in 1973. All in all, Dan is a 6 time Pro Bowler, 1982 NFL MVP, and a Hall of Fame inductee. Fouts has an overall QB rating of 80.2 and has completed less than 59 per cent of his passes throughout his career. Dan Fouts touchdown to interception ratio is almost at .500 with 254 touchdowns and 242 internships. He also didn’t do too well in the playoffs throwing only 12 touchdowns and a total of 16 interceptions, including the 1979 AFC divisional playoff where he lost to the Houston Oilers who were missing, Earl Campbell, Dan Pastorini and Ken Burroughs. That loss to me was the most damaging to Fouts reputation. The search for a championship continues for San Diego…

2) Joe Namath – I think that Joe Namath’s name is actually bigger than his actual accomplishments. Ok, so he led the underdog New York Jets to a Super Bowl victory upset against the Baltimore Colts in 1969, but in all honesty, the defense won that game for the Jets. The score was 16-7 and Namath didn’t have a single passing touchdown. With a retired Jets number and Hall of Fame credit, we think, Joe may have won the NFL popularity contest. He has a career win-loss record of 62-63, led the league in interceptions on four occasions, and completed just 50.1% of his passes. Despite having just a 65.5 QB rating and throwing 220 interceptions to his 173 touchdowns. Regardless, we could understand why he is a New York Jets legend. I will give you this, I believe without his knee injury at Alabam, he may have gone down as a top 5 all-time QB, sadly we will never know.

1) Michael Vick – Vick is a terrible team leader who gets frustrated easily when things don’t go his way. He’s also injury prone. The fact that he makes poor on-field decisions and has an instinct to run at the first hint of pressure makes him, even more, injury-prone. He’s not a player that makes teams better, he makes them worse. During his four-year run in Philly–again, surrounded by a ton of talent–his record as a starter got worse every year. In 2013, he was replaced as the Eagles’ starter by Nick Foles. The Eagles went 10-7 that year–but only 2-4 with Vick as a starter. Sure, he was talented but who wants a QB who is not mentally tough and makes poor on-field decisions. Of course, if you listened to the talking heads at ESPN during his career you would have thought he was god’s gift to Quarterbacks.