Has a backup qb gone onto greatness somewhere else

[GunnerBill]

Hasselbeck?

[DasNootz]

I think Unitas was a FA signing for the Colts after Pittsburg cut him, but that doesn't fit your criteria I imagine.

Fitzmagic did alright for himself

Mark Bulger was a cast off of the Saints and Falcons before going to the Rams.

Hasselbeck is the best answer I can think of recently

Edited February 1, 2017 by DasNootz

[Marty McFly]

This. Favre, Young, and Kurt Warner.

The you got a 2nd tier for guys like Gannon, Brunell, etc...

 

I think I'd only classify Warner,Favre,and Young as guys who were truly "great". I also think it was a different game back then. I believe it's far less likely that we'll see backups go on to be great players elsewhere these days. The QB position is held on too high of a pedestal for teams to let QB's go as easily as they once did.

Yes, I agree with this. Rodgers, and any qb drafted as a plan for succession for their starter isn't really a backup QB

Tom Brady is the best backup story of all time.

 

Gotta disagree. Kurt Warner went from working in a grocery store to becoming a Super Bowl winner. That is a much better story than Tom Bradys no matter how many rings hes won.

Theres something to be said for the guys who struggle the most for their dreams and they finally pan out even when things look the bleakest. Brady never had that, he was drafted and on contract. Kurt Warner came out of nowhere and shook off the label of 'camp arm' to become a back up.

[boyst]

This. Favre, Young, and Kurt Warner.

 

The you got a 2nd tier for guys like Gannon, Brunell, etc...

 

 

Gotta disagree. Kurt Warner went from working in a grocery store to becoming a Super Bowl winner. That is a much better story than Tom Bradys no matter how many rings hes won.

 

Theres something to be said for the guys who struggle the most for their dreams and they finally pan out even when things look the bleakest. Brady never had that, he was drafted and on contract. Kurt Warner came out of nowhere and shook off the label of 'camp arm' to become a back up.

Stories don't make wins

[Big Turk]

Looking at the chatter surrounding Janine Garappolo...

 

So my buddy and I we were wondering, is there QB like Cassel, Flynn, Osweiler, etc. who was a backup somewhere and received big bucks through free agency, or trade and worked out well for the new team?

 

In other words, someone bought into them big time and it paid off.

 

Brett Favre, Steve Young, Aaron Rodgers...probably a few more that I'm forgetting...a small list, in no small part because there are few great QBs to begin with and teams typically don't let them go...

 

EDIT: Young and Rodgers stayed with same team(although I thought Steve Young was with TB...), but we're backups for a while

 

Young was with the Bucs...man those GMs must be sick to their stomach...Had both Young AND Favre as QBs and let them both go...talk about not being able to identify talent, Lmao....two hall of famers...not sure what is worse...not getting great QBs or getting them and letting them be great somewhere else...

Edited February 1, 2017 by matter2003

[BobbyC81]

Rob Johnson.

 

Sorry, somebody had to do it.

[What a Tuel]

 

Pretty stupid of you to refer to him as "Janine." That doesn't even make sense.

 

I for one would love to see Jimmy as a Bill. The kid has talent and knows what good coaching is like. He would be a huge addition to the Bills.

 

If no one has already then I'll say it - Simmer down, the joke is based off of the female comedian Janeane Garofalo.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=janeane+garofalo&biw=1916&bih=960&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwj_yLbDlPDRAhWEOyYKHWdQAm4Q_AUIBigB

 

I think its a pretty rough question because the phrase "backup qb" is widely undefined. If you include starting QB's that moved on or were replaced then the list gets much bigger, but strictly backups? Not many.

Edited February 2, 2017 by What a Tuel

[dpberr]

Rob Johnson.

 

Sorry, somebody had to do it.

Johnson wasn't the backup, Flutie was.

 

That's what made the choice to put RJ back into the lineup for the MCM perplexing to say the least after the season DF had in 1999.

Edited February 2, 2017 by dpberr

[bills-fan in arizona]

Johnson wasn't the backup, Flutie was.

 

That's what made the choice to put RJ back into the lineup for the MCM perplexing to say the least after the season DF had in 1999.

Already posted and he was the backup to Brunel

[MarkyMannn]

I guess the lesson here is like one back-up QB a decade makes it to the SB. So probably not a good path to take to get your winning QB

[Prickly Pete]

I guess the lesson here is like one back-up QB a decade makes it to the SB. So probably not a good path to take to get your winning QB

 

Not really.

Across a ten year period it's often the same small group of teams going each year, so 1 QB a decade that was a backup, then traded and goes on to a Super Bowl, would be pretty good odds considering how few guys make it to the Super Bowl.

[judman]

 

If no one has already then I'll say it - Simmer down, the joke is based off of the female comedian Janeane Garofalo.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=janeane+garofalo&biw=1916&bih=960&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwj_yLbDlPDRAhWEOyYKHWdQAm4Q_AUIBigB

 

I think its a pretty rough question because the phrase "backup qb" is widely undefined. If you include starting QB's that moved on or were replaced then the list gets much bigger, but strictly backups? Not many.

Seen a lot of "janine" posts on here over the last year, or two. For a while it was as common as "pats*"

[BobbyC81]

Johnson wasn't the backup, Flutie was.

That's what made the choice to put RJ back into the lineup for the MCM perplexing to say the least after the season DF had in 1999.

Rob Johnson was a backup for Jacksonville for whom the Bills traded a 1st round pick for.

[Ramblin' Rob]

It almost amazes me how many people have not answered the question.

 

Almost.

 

 

^{Matt Schaub had success going to Houston from Atlanta}

 

 

Plenty of examples for this quiz but an obvious one if I understand it correctly.

 

Doug Flutie, Buffalo Bills

 

Perhaps the greatest example would be Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams.

 

 

HOF WB Steve Young from Tampa Baybto SF Is the best one I can thinknof

 

 

Two I can think of right off the top of my head would be Brett Farve and Steve Young.

 

 

Brett Favre. Darryl Lamonica. Jim Plunkett. More to come

 

Aaron Rodgers was a back-up. Same team though

 

The guy who succeeded Joe Montana, Steve Young

 

 

Favre.

Were non of those answers, Gungy?

[KGun12TD]

Steve Young

[NoSaint]

Define greatness.

 

Mark Rypien was behind Williams and Schroeder in DC, and won a Superbowl. Tom Brady backed up Bledsoe (he was actually 4th on the depth chart his rookie year.) Roger Staubach rode the bench his rookie year. Jim Plunkett bounced from New England to San Francisco to Oakland, then was a backup for two years with the Raiders before winning two Superbowls.

I don't think he was talking about the Brady situation where a rookie backup later earned the job.

 

From the examples I saw it as 3-4 year backup that flashed 1-2 times and got handed a long term big deal starter deal.

 

Matt Schuab being a prime example of it working well. Cassel being a mediocre one at best, rob Johnson and on and on.

 

Even favre isn't really what I read his question as intending

 

Hell, even tyrod is probably a stretch as we didn't give him a starter deal out of the gate

Edited February 2, 2017 by NoSaint

[metzelaars_lives]

To say Brett Favre was a "backup" is incredibly misleading. Scott Mitchell was a bonafide backup. Matt Schaub. Steve Young best example.

[Thurman#1]

As others have observed, the OP used two conflicting standards in his OP, "greatness" in the headline and "worked out well for the new team" in the post itself. If you use "greatness," very few qualify, so I'm going to look at "worked out well for the new team." To sum up, I looked at all the posts on this thread, and It looks to me that if you go by the strict qualifications from the OP:

 

 

YES

 

1) Favre, though he was only a backup for a year.

 

2) Lamonica

 

3) Brunell, though again, he was only a backup for one year before changing teams. Nice call, I wouldn't have thought of him.

 

4) Ferragamo, nice call. Yeah, you could say he had success afterwards, and by the time he left the Rams he'd been a backup, a starter but was then a backup again. So strictly he counts.

 

5) Flutie? Maybe, maybe not. He was a backup in Chicago before the trade. He never made the Pats happy they acquired him, or at least not till that final dropkick that ended his career. Does his time with the Bills count? And was it a success? I'd say, yeah, he counts.

 

6) Ah, Fitz. Nice call. He backed up for two years in St. Louis before moving to Cincy. Worked out well for the Jets for one year even if you deny he reached the level of working out well in Buffalo.

 

7) Delhomme. Nice call. Two years as a backup in New Orleans before moving.

 

8) Steve Bono. Another one I'd never have come up with Yeah, a two-year backup in Minny, and yeah, he started long enough and surely qualified to work out well for a couple of years in KC.

 

9) Elvis Grbac. Sexiest athlete of the year in People. That's working out well, isn't it? A legit backup in SF, I'd argue he worked out well enough in KC to count.

 

10) Matt Hasselbeck. Yet another guy I wouldn't have thought of. I originally made a mistake and put him in the "No" column. Thanks to Gunner Bill for the correction.

 

 

 

DEBATABLE

 

Gannon's questionable. He wasn't a backup by the time he left his first team. He'd been the starter for years.

 

Rob Johnson is another maybe / maybe not. I don't think he ever made the Bills happy that they got him. I'd say not, though there's a legit argument that he could fit.

Cassel. Did he really make Chiefs fans happy? They made the playoffs one year but were one-and-done. I'd argue he didn't. But there's again a legit argument for Cassel.

 

Alex Smith. He'd been a starter. Was demoted, so you could make the argument, but I'd call him a starter. Certainly in retrospect, the 9ers should've kept him.

 

Beuerlein. In his first year he was injured in preseason and missed the year. In his second year he started early, was benched for Jay Schroeder and then regained the starter role. There was a contract hassle involved the next year or so. I don't think he ended that first team as a legit backup.

 

Brad Johnson. Was he a backup in Minny by the end? It was a hot contest between he and Randall Cunningham and he lost the starter role in his last season by injury. He was traded because Dennis Green wanted Cunningham to start the next year, so I guess it's debatable. I'd say no, myself.

 

DON'T QUALIFY

 

A number of people suggested don't quite fit the original question, though they still serve as good arguments that guys can start as backups and become good starters. They still serve as good examples of why a guy like Garoppolo might work out, though he also might not.

 

Not Steve Young. He started in Tampa. Only after being acquired by SF did he become a backup and then a starter again for the same team.

 

Not McNair. He went from development backup to starter on the same team unless you want to say that when the Houston Oilers moved and became the Tennessee Titans that he'd changed teams. Which isn't really reasonable.

 

Not really Plunkett. He was starting by the time he left Boston.

 

I thought of Schaub too, but was he really a success as a starter? I wouldn't count him. I wouldn't count Tyrod - yet - either for the same reason. He could make the list eventually, though.

 

Not Warner. He wasn't a backup for the Packers, he was let go. If you counted that kind of guy, you'd have to throw in Johnny Unitas too.

 

Bulger too for this reason, he didn't manage to make any roster till St. Louis. Two weeks on a practice squad doesn't count, IMHO.

 

Not Brees. He beat out Rivers and was the starter there till the injury.

 

Not Dilfer. He was starting in Tampa.

 

Doug Williams was the starter in Tampa, so I don't think he fits precisely, though he started in D.C. as the backup and certainly made them happy.

 

Testaverde, no. Was a legit starter early in his career, with his first team.

 

Not Aaron Brooks. Was a starter for his first team for most of his career, then spent one year in Oakland where he started only eight games and went 0-8. Don't see that as working out well in any way shape or form.

 

I thought of George Blanda, but he doesn't quite fit, having started at QB in the AFL, And briefly as a linebacker before that for the Bears (also kicking, of course), but hadn't precisely been a backup QB before the Raiders got him, and he didn't start for the Raiders except as an injury replacement. Close, though. Great career.

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, though, the guys who are debatable or outright don't qualify mostly do serve as good examples of cases where guys who were backups can improve maybe even enough to be genuinely good starters in the right situation.

 

I don't know if Garoppolo will, but he's got a chance.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Thurman#1

[4merper4mer]

^{Matt Schaub had success going to Houston from Atlanta}

Those were actually cornerbacks that had success when Schaub played.

[reddogblitz]

Gotta disagree. Kurt Warner went from working in a grocery store to becoming a Super Bowl winner.

To getting benched by the Giants for Eli to backing up Matt Lienert to starter again and SB again.

 

Craig Morton

 

Played for Marv at Cal. In Marv's book he says Craig was beat athlete he ever coached.

 

Was the starter in Dallas and played in the loss to Baltimore. Then benched for Roger. Traded to Giants when Roger took over. Ended up on Denver and getting the team to SB XIII only to get clobbered by Roger and the boys.

Edited February 2, 2017 by reddogblitz