In the NFL, things can change at a drop of a hat. One second your team believes they have the answer at the quarterback position and the next they are looking for a replacement. Today, we are going to be diving into 10 quarterbacks that went from a star to anything but. Whether it was from injury, inconsistent play, age or anything else, things are never a lock in the National Football League.
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning was one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He went to the Denver Broncos after suffering a neck injury and won a pair of Super Bowls. However, the final season of his career was 2015 and it was obvious that Manning was a shell of himself. He depended on a spectacular defense to lead the team as he had career-lows in everything but interceptions. The Broncos won the Super Bowl but Manning throwing nine touchdowns to 17 interceptions was something we never believed we would see.
Dan Marino
Age just seemed to catch up with this Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback as Dan Marino struggled to get going in his season finale. He finished the 1999 season with a 12:17 touchdown-to-interception ratio and had a career-low 55.3 completion percentage. Marino will always be remembered as a star and no one will bring up his final season.
Josh Freeman
To claim Josh Freeman a star may be a bit of an overstretch but for what he was expected to be, he had a major drop in production. In 2010, he had an incredible 25:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio and threw 39 interceptions the following two years. Freeman was not in the NFL for much longer after that but the fall from grace still was there.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Donovan McNabb
Donovan McNabb was an exciting quarterback that made the Pro Bowl six different times throughout his career. However, once he left the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2009 season, things turned for the worse. After a 92-49-1 career record with the Eagles, he combined to go 6-13 for his final two seasons with Washington and Minnesota. He threw for 18 touchdowns in those two seasons after passing for 22 in 2009 alone. Things just seemed to be lost for McNabb as he quietly retired into the sunset.
Brett Favre
Brett Favre had a legendary career and it took until his final season but you were able to tell it was time for him to call it quits with his play. At 40 years old with the Minnesota Vikings, he finished with 33 touchdowns to seven interceptions. At 41 years old with the Minnesota Vikings, Favre threw 11 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. The team was pretty much the same but Favre fell off the cliff.
Daunte Culpepper
Daunte Culpepper was an exciting quarterback throughout his career but after making his third Pro Bowl, things never got back to that level. At just 27 years old, he averaged 294.8 passing yards per game and in the final five years, he finished with 5,555 passing yards. Injuries played a huge factor but he also was just 5-22 as a starting quarterback in those years as well. Things never looked the same and that was a shame.
Carson Wentz
Carson Wentz was one of the bright stars of the NFL for his first few seasons but injuries and locker room issues put him behind the eight ball. He really dropped in the 2020 season as he threw a NFL-leading 15 interceptions during the season and was replaced by Jalen Hurts. He was awful in Indianapolis and Washington the last two seasons and is still a free agent in Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Russell Wilson
The cement is still wet here as Sean Payton could help turn him around but Russell Wilson had a huge drop-off in production last season compared to the rest of his career. In his first season with the Denver Broncos, Wilson went 4-11 as a starting quarterback with a career-low 60.5 completion percentage and 16 touchdown passes. It will be interesting to see how he does going forward.
Rich Gannon
Rich Gannon had an outstanding career, including winning the 2002 NFL MVP Award. However, injuries piled up as in the two seasons after that, Gannon was not able to get anywhere close to that performance. His MVP season saw him lead the league with 4,689 passing yards and 26 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. The final two years of his career, he played 10 games and had just nine touchdowns to six interceptions. Gannon hit a wall at 38 years old and was not able to get going after that.
Michael Vick
Being a running quarterback and adding up all of the hits, Michael Vick was bound to be on this list. 2010 was the final year he was a Pro Bowler and never got close to that again in his final five seasons in the league. In those years, he had a 40:30 touchdown-to-interception ratio and it seemed as he left the Andy Reid system, things began to tail off. He spent a year with the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers as a backup quarterback before officially calling it quits.
