Best Backup / Fill-in QBs in NFL History

InstaFace

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I was pissed off about this note in the ESPN overreaction/underreaction column, where they called the following bit part of "NOT AN OVERREACTION":
...It's fantastic that the Jags know they have a backup capable of playing in the league and winning games. It's vital to have that, and frankly, Foles' contract is proof, as he earned it by being maybe the best fill-in quarterback in NFL history in Philadelphia. But that's the role for Minshew if Foles is healthy, and I believe that's what the Jaguars will do in Week 11.
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Speaking only of their role in going from holding a clipboard to bailing out a team's season once the starter got injured, I'll give this a start:

  1. Kurt Warner, STL 1999 (Trent Green tears ACL in preseason)
  2. Steve Young, SFO 1991 (Joe Montana elbow injury in preseason)
  3. Doug Williams, WAS 1987 (Jay Schroeder injured[?] periodically, Williams starts 2 games / plays most of 3 others in-season, starts all 3 playoff games)
  4. Nick Foles, PHI 2017 (Wentz tears ACL in week 14)
  5. Jim Plunkett, RAI 1980 (starter Dan Pastorini fractures leg in week 5)
  6. Tom Brady, NE 2001 (Drew Bledsoe, week 2... ya know)
  7. Jeff Hostetler, NYG 1990 (Simms foot injury in week 14)
...

120. Jimmy Garoppolo, NE 2016 (Brady suspended weeks 1+2)

...

523. Gardner Minshew, JAX 2019

N.B. I'm not counting a highly drafted young QB, like someone drafted 1/1 like Terry Bradshaw or Roger Staubach, eventually earning the starter's job in a fair competition. Or where the starter just absolutely sucked, to the point where the 2000 Ravens would actually upgrade by inserting Trent Dilfer. This is for emergency fill-in service.

edit: added Doug Williams
 
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Harry Hooper

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Earl Morall needs to be at the top:

When Unitas suffered a career-altering elbow injury in the final preseason game of 1968, Morrall led the Baltimore Colts to a 13-1 record en route to the Most Valuable Player award and a Super Bowl appearance.

Two years later, Morrall replaced an injured Unitas in the Colts' Super Bowl V triumph over the Dallas Cowboys' "Doomsday Defense." To this day, Morrall remains the only quarterback to come off the bench and lead his team to a come-from-behind Super Bowl victory.

When the Colts unceremoniously dumped Morrall the following season, the 38-year-old signal-caller followed Shula to Miami. The defending champion Dolphins were forced to turn to their new backup when Bob Griese went down with a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle in Week 5.

Morrall was a revelation, surpassing Griese's production to lead the 1972 Dolphins to 11 consecutive wins during the only undefeated season in NFL history.
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DJnVa

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InstaFace said:
I was pissed off about this note in the ESPN overreaction/underreaction column, where they called the following bit part of "NOT AN OVERREACTION":


Speaking only of their role in going from holding a clipboard to bailing out a team's season once the starter got injured, I'll give this a start:

  1. Kurt Warner, STL 1999 (Trent Green tears ACL in preseason)
  2. Steve Young, SFO 1991 (Joe Montana elbow injury in preseason)
  3. Nick Foles, PHI 2017 (Wentz tears ACL in week 14)
  4. Jim Plunkett, RAI 1980 (starter Dan Pastorini fractures leg in week 5)
  5. Tom Brady, NE 2001 (Drew Bledsoe, week 2... ya know)
  6. Jeff Hostetler, NYG 1990 (Simms foot injury in week 14)
...

120. Jimmy Garoppolo, NE 2016 (Brady suspended weeks 1+2)

...

523. Gardner Minshew, JAX 2019

N.B. I'm not counting a highly drafted young QB, like someone drafted 1/1 like Terry Bradshaw or Roger Staubach, eventually earning the starter's job in a fair competition. This is for emergency fill-in service.
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I would take issue with Nick Foles, who had previously been a starter, ranking ahead of Brady in 2001.
 
joe dokes

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Al Zarilla said:
Don Strock, Miami, 70s and 80s. 15 years as a backup with the same team except for a cup of coffee with the Browns his last year.
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For longevity? Yes. But since he only threw more than 100 passes twice in those 15 years, he doesn't get credit for much more than that.


For succes, it has to be Morrall. Ironically, Shula often gets criticized for sticking with Morrall too long in SB3.
 
luckiestman

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I thought of Hostetler and Reich. Upon further review I go Hostetler Foles. I don’t view Doug Williams the same way, I think he was better so Gibbs played him, that’s a bit different, imo.
 
Was (Not Wasdin)

Was (Not Wasdin)

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I'd vote for Warner. Morrall did a great job, no question, on more than one occasion. But he was already an experienced NFL guy who found himself on a couple of championship caliber teams and stepped in and won. Warner had zero NFL experience when he stepped in for Trent Green, and took a team that wasnt expected to do well all the way to a SuperBowl win. The numbers he put up were ridiculous, and the offense scored so often and so fast it made the defense better (led the league in sacks and was up there in INTs).

Technically, Plunkett did it twice as well. He had been replaced by Marc Wilson in 1983, then Wilson got hurt and plunkett came back to lead them to a SB win.
 
Al Zarilla

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joe dokes said:
For longevity? Yes. But since he only threw more than 100 passes twice in those 15 years, he doesn't get credit for much more than that.


For succes, it has to be Morrall. Ironically, Shula often gets criticized for sticking with Morrall too long in SB3.
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That was Strock’s job, backup quarterback. He never started a season as the starting QB. Earl Morrall did. Kurt Warner certainly did. I took the thread meaning strictly and Strock was the definition of a backup quarterback, and really good at it too, at least in terms of winning games. True that Morrall was the main guy in the 1972 zero loss Miami season.
 
Captaincoop

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The Giants won with Hostetler, but he was nothing special. He threw for like 150 yards a game in the playoffs. They had an insane defense that won games for them.
 
moondog80

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I feel like Steve Young doesn't count. There's a difference between backup and heir apparent.
 
moondog80

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reggiecleveland said:
He was 30 by the time he got the job.
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I was going to say "because USFL and Joe Montana", but he did play two years in Tampa where he stunk. So I guess maybe he wasn't always thought of as the next big thing while on the bench in SF.
 
Mugsy's Jock

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I don't know that he's the right answer, in fact I'm pretty sure he isn't, but Strock was the first name that came to mind for me.

Throwing another name out there for the old-timers in the thread: Billy Kilmer kept the Redskins playing top tier football when Sonny Jurgensen couldn't answer the bell, and generally outplayed Jurgensen when he came back and there was a QB controversy there.

Edit: Things I did not know... Kilmer came into the league as a running back with the 49ers where he was responsible for initiating one of the more famous plays in NFL history. After taking in a pass from QB George Mira in a game against the Vikings, Kilmer was hit and fumbled. The ball was scooped up by Vikings lineman Jim Marshall, who then ran 66 yards the wrong way, giving the 49ers a safety.
 
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Ferm Sheller

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reggiecleveland said:
Don Strock was great in maybe the greatest game I ever watched. The Epic in Miami. This was one of the first years the NFL was on TV in Canada, and lots of Canadian fans didn't like the grind it out running games common at the time since the CFL is a wide open passing game. But this game won a lot of fans for the NFL north of the border.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UhxzkIcFXU
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I watched this as a middle school aged kid. I’m pretty sure it’s the best NFL football game I’ve ever watched, and certainly the best football game I’ve seen that hasn’t involved the Pats or Gerard Phelan catching a Hail Mary from Doug Flutie.
 
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