How do you rank the greatest quarterbacks in Washington Football Team history?
How do you value long-term consistency versus spectacular short-term success? How much weight do you place on wins? On championships? How can you measure intangibles, like guts and leadership? And what do you do with statistical comparisons between players who performed under very different conditions as the NFL has continued to emphasize passing?
Speaking of statistics – a cautionary tale. If you rely entirely on statistics, and do not allow for sample size bias, the greatest quarterback in Washington Football Team history is a no-brainer. Only one quarterback in franchise history has an undefeated record as a starter. He has a career passer rating over 100. A career yards-per-attempt over 10. A four-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio. Those are all Hall-of-Fame numbers.
What’s more, Keanu Reaves played a character very loosely based on him in a major Hollywood movie. Yes, the real-life Shane Falco – Ed Rubbert – won all three of his starts for the Washington Football Team as the replacement quarterback during the 1987 player’s strike.
But Ed Rubbert isn’t on my list.
I’ll give you my top-ten, along with an unranked handful of honorable mentions, and I’ll tell you right up front, you won’t like some of them. Because it is highly subjective. I value some statistics more than you might. I think yards-per-attempt is important. I think touchdown percentage is more important than interception percentage.
I also value wins quite a bit, and yet, the starter with the highest winning percentage (apart from Rubbert, of course) in franchise history doesn’t crack my top ten.
I’m also only considering what these quarterbacks did for the Washington Football Team. So Stan Humphries and Charlie Conerly, quarterbacks who had much better careers after leaving Washington, are not here. Washington has also had plenty of quarterbacks who had meaningful careers elsewhere before coming to town. I’m only evaluating them based on what they did in DC.
Honorable Mentions
Mark Brunell (2004-2007)
Brunell was already in his mid-30s when Joe Gibbs brought him in to provide some veteran leadership. He was no longer a feared runner, and his big-play capabilities were mostly a thing of the past. He was essentially a steady game manager by this point in his career. Still his two bombs to Santana Moss late in a Monday night contest against Dallas in 2005 rank as one of the great moments in recent Washington Football Team history.
Jason Campbell (2005-2009)
Campbell never lived up to his first-round draft status, and he was much maligned for it. But he completed over 60% of his passes for the Washington Football Team and threw for over 10,000 yards – one of only two quarterbacks in franchise history about whom you can say that.
Trent Green (1995-1998)
Ah, what might have been. Green only started 14 games in his Washington Football Team career and his numbers, despite an impressive touchdown/interception ratio, were mundane. But you could see the talent there in this eighth-round draft pick from Indiana.
He may have stayed in DC had the ownership issues in the wake of Jack Kent Cooke’s death been more stable. As it was, he went to St. Louis where he thrived in the Rams’ exciting pre-season offense until an injury took away his starting job and opened up the Hall of Fame doors to his replacement, Kurt Warner. He would eventually make two Pro Bowls as quarterback for Kansas City.
Gus Frerotte (1994-1998)
Frerotte was the ultimate journeyman, eventually playing for seven different NFL teams. His time with the Washington Football Team was unspectacular, but he put an end to the Heath Shuler fiasco, he made a Pro Bowl, and he is responsible for one of the most infamous touchdowns in team history – knocking himself out of a game after scoring a touchdown against the Giants by headbutting a wall in celebration back in 1997. That resume is worth an Honorable Mention.
Patrick Ramsey (2002-2005)
If Ramsey had the privilege of playing under a genuine NFL head coach, his story may have been different. Alas, he played for a college coach who was having a lark at the pro level, and Steve Spurrier made Ramsey rotate with his Florida boys Shane Matthews and Danny Wuerffel. When he got into a game as a rookie, he showed first-round talent, beating Tennessee in a great debut performance. In the next two games, he threw four picks and was sacked 13 times, and Ramsey returned to the bench. After a couple more years of being battered, Washington gave up on their former first-round draft pick.
Jay Schroeder (1984-1987)
Full disclosure, I never particularly liked Schroeder. And in that, I was not alone. He struck some of his teammates as having Joe Theismann’s arrogance without Theismann’s charm or productivity. My complaint was that for strong-armed quarterback who could move, he was far too streaky a player to rely on. And yet, Schroeder had a 24-7 career record as a starter, far and away the best in team history. He stepped onto the field and performed admirably against Giants in the aftermath of Theismann’s terrifying leg injury in 1985 and was very good the following year. Then, almost as quickly as it began, it all ended. A should injury limited him in 1987, and he was eventually benched in favor of Doug Williams, who led Washington to Super Bowl Glory. A year later, he was gone, but Washington did get outstanding tackle Jim Lachey in return. All in all, a brief, complicated legacy.
Alex Smith (2018 & 2020)
You all know Alex Smith’s story. When he arrived in Washington, despite his age, he was still a very productive quarterback who led Washington to a 6-3 record before his horrific leg injury. His return in 2020 will go down in Washington Football Team lore. He clearly was a reduced player at this point, but he helped the Washington Football Team into the playoffs, and boasts an 11-5 record as a starter.
Norm Snead (1961-1963)
Poor Norm Snead. The big strong rookie from Wake Forest walked into the absolute low point in Washington Football Team history. By the late ‘50s, George Preston Marshall’s stinginess and pig-headed refusal to integrate left Washington with the worst talent in the league. Snead was battered and had little help. His numbers show that. They are dreadful. But if you saw him, you knew there was a decent quarterback in there, as his four Pro Bowls and 15-year career would prove. He was a rare bright glimmer in a dismal time, and most importantly, he was the trade bait that brought Washington one of its greatest all-time quarterbacks when he left in 1964.
Doug Williams (1986-1989)
If you want to put Williams into your own personal top ten, I have no argument. He authored one of the greatest moments in Washington football history – the magical second quarter of Super Bowl XXII. And was the man ever tough. After that Super Bowl, my favorite Williams memory came the following season when he astonished medical professionals everywhere by returning to the field less than four weeks out from appendectomy surgery. Still, those moments aside, Williams only started 14 games for Washington and compiled a 5-9 record. His numbers were only average. But you were in Jack Murphy Stadium on the last day of January, 1988, you will never forget what Doug Williams was capable of.
No. 10 – Eddie LeBaron (1952-1953, 1955-1959)
Someone had to take over from the great Sammy Baugh, and it fell to the 5’7” LeBaron to do so. After many years as NFL royalty, Washington was in the middle of a long, slow decline to the basement when the “Little General” began his career. His deft ball-handling and aggressive passing won him fans, even if most of his teams were average.
LeBaron’s spot in the top ten is the hardest to justify based on statistics. He completed fewer than 50% of his passes and threw far more interceptions than touchdowns. His quarterback rating, by today’s standards, was terrible. But LeBaron made plays. He had a touchdown rate of 5.3% — virtually identical to Tom Brady and Drew Brees. He made three Pro Bowls in Washington and led the league in passing in 1959.
The gap in LeBaron’s tenure was the year he bolted, along with star defensive end Gene Brito, to Canada. LeBaron simply did no get along with coach Curly Lambeau. He returned after one season, with Lambeau gone. And his career was delayed at its start by the Korean War. LeBaron served in the marines for more than a year, winning two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star. Perhaps not a justification for his ranking as a quarterback – but worth a mention I think.
No. 9 – Frank Filchock (1938-1941, 1944-1945)
Frank Filchock’s complicated pro football career began in Pittsburgh in 1938, but he was moved to Washington midway through his rookie season. One year earlier, the Washington Football Team had selected Sammy Baugh in the draft to lead its backfield. This was in the era of the single wing, an offensive formation in which any one of four different backfield players might take the center snap, and run, pass or even kick depending on the situation. Neither Baugh nor Filchock was listed as a quarterback during those years – both were considered halfbacks in the single wing setup.
Baugh was the primary passer, but Filchock threw a lot too. Enough to lead the NFL in passing touchdowns in 1939. His career touchdown percentage rate of 6.9% would place him fourth in NFL history if he had enough qualifying throws. And during his Washington years, that rate was 7.4% On the other hand, about one in every ten passes Filchock threw resulted in an interception. It was a different era.
Filchock served in the navy during World War II. By the time he returned to the NFL, Washington had decided to move to more modern T-formation offense, with a distinct quarterback under center. That was usually Baugh, though Filchock filled in often enough to again lead the league in touchdown passes in 1944, despite being a backup. He grew tired of the backup role and requested a trade, which was granted after the 1945 season. He led his new team, the New York Giants, to the championship game in 1946 when his NFL career came crashing down in a gambling scandal. He would continue playing in Canada, but would only make the briefest of returns to the NFL stage for the Baltimore Colts in 1950.
At the beginning of Filchock’s career, Washington owner George Preston Marshall had lost future Hall of Fame runner Cliff Battles when the owner refused the player’s request for a modest raise. That would be a hallmark of Marshall’s ownership. Sammy Baugh once commented on his attitude toward these money-saving moves. Baugh said “Only one guy I ever told Mr. Marshall to keep. I said, ‘Don’t ever get rid of Filchock. He’s a hell of a good quarterback.’” As endorsements go, that’s a pretty good one.
No. 8 – Robert Griffin III (2012-2015)
In 2012, Robert Griffin III had one of the greatest years a rookie quarterback has ever managed. He threw 20 touchdowns against five interceptions, had a YPA over 8 and a rating over 100. On top of that, he ran for more than 800 yards and seven more touchdowns. At the time, only four other quarterbacks had ever run for more yards in a season. Only Randall Cunningham had combined for more yards in a season, with a minimum of 800 yards rushing. And that came six years into his career (Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson have surpassed RGIII’s total since).
Not only that, RGIII revived both a team and an entire fan base that had been in the doldrums for more than a decade. He led a remarkable second half surge that took Washington into the playoffs and made anything seem possible.
Then, in a playoff game against Seattle, it all came crashing down. His own competitive stubbornness combined with poor judgment from above ended that season, and would eventually squash a potentially brilliant career just as it was starting.
The cost of acquiring Griffin – three first-round picks and one second – made it a bitter pill. But it was the death of hope – the glimpse of a very bright future snatched away through childish mismanagement – that made the next few years so difficult. On the surface, Griffin’s career numbers don’t look too bad in a vacuum. But he quarterbacked a team that went 14-21 in the games he started. It should have been so much better.
No. 7 – Brad Johnson (1999-2000)
Brad Johnson was never considered good enough. Not after his first Pro Bowl selection (for Washington in 1999). Not after his Super Bowl win with Tampa in 2002. The ninth-round draft pick was beginning to thrive in Minnesota when an injury opened the door for the flashier Randall Cunningham. Charley Casserly gave up a lot to bring Johnson to Washington and Johnson rewarded the GM’s faith by leading Washington to its first playoff victory in almost a decade.
He regressed some the following year but still managed to lead the team on a mid-season run that had them 6-2 at the midpoint. Then Johnson hurt his knee, and one of Dan Snyder’s shiny new toys, Jeff George, got into the game. George failed to produce, but he was a big name with a big arm, and that was the way the new owner wanted things.
Charley Casserly had already been jettisoned. Coach Norv Turner was on his way out. And Johnson would soon follow. He ended his brief run in DC with a 17-10 record, a Pro Bowl and a playoff win. They were one bad snap away from a potential winning field goal in their second playoff game in 1999.
Johnson would go next to Tampa Bay, where he would put up virtually identical numbers to those he had produced with the Washington Football Team. In 2002, the year he won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, Washington went 7-9.
No. 6 – Kirk Cousins (2015-2017)
No quarterback who started for more than a season in Washington has a higher rating than Kirk Cousins. No quarterback has a higher yards-per-attempt. No quarterback completed a higher percentage of his throws. Yet Kirk Cousins was always seen as the consolation prize. Miss Congeniality to Robert Griffin’s beauty queen. Mike Shanahan chose Cousins in the fourth-round of the 2012 draft, after the team had mortgaged its future to grab Griffin in the first round. This was the first sign that the Shanahan-Griffin relationship was troubled from the start.
Cousins sat on the bench until Griffin’s injury status gave him a shot. He responded. Cousins consistently threw for over 4,000 yards in his three years as the full-time starter. He had a better than 2:1 touchdown/interception ratio. He broke the team’s single-season passing record in 2015, and then shattered it again in 2016. He took the team to the playoffs in 2015, made the Pro Bowl in 2016.
Still, none of it was good enough. Washington franchise tagged him in consecutive seasons, but seemed unwilling to commit to a long-term deal. He left for big money in Minnesota after the 2017 season. Vikings fans have had the same vague sense of dissatisfaction, despite a playoff run in 2019.
Whether Cousins is an upper-echelon quarterback or a merely competent signal caller who has taken advantage of modern passing rules to accumulate impressive stats remains an ongoing debate. But he had a good run in Washington, and that shouldn’t be forgotten so quickly.
No. 5 – Billy Kilmer (1971-1978)
Billy Kilmer had been in the league for ten years by the time George Allen brought him to Washington to backup Sonny Jurgensen. But Jurgensen suffered several injuries in the early ‘70s that essentially handed the job to Kilmer. Sharing time with Sonny throughout the decade, Billy would compile a 50-23-1 record as a starter, take the team to its first Super Bowl, and retire in third place on the all-time team passing list.
Billy and Sonny were radically different quarterbacks. Kilmer’s arm was never very good. He had come up as a running back, but a serious injury at the beginning of his professional career reduced his mobility. He quarterbacked bad teams in New Orleans before landing in Washington, and no one thought he was anything more than a mediocre backup at that point.
But Billy was defined by intangibles. He was as tough a player as you will ever find, playing through breaks and bruises and inspiring his teammates along the way. He made smart plays. George Allen wanted a team built around his defense and a strong running game. He built the defense. He had Larry Brown in the backfield. He wanted leadership from his quarterback, and that’s what Kilmer offered.
The quarterback controversy – the “I love Sonny” vs “I love Billy” bumper-stickers that soon appeared – energized the fan base. Behind the scenes, Billy and Sonny made a great team. Two grizzled vets who liked to have a good time. They got fined by Allen. Every so often, the police might get involved. Toward the end of their respective careers, they united in their efforts to keep a brash young kid QB on the sidelines. More on him in a few moments.
When Tom Brady became the oldest player to throw a touchdown pass in a playoff game (against Washington, no less) fans got to see side-by-side photos of Brady and George Blanda, the man who previously held the record. Both men are 43 years old in their pictures, but Blanda looks twice as old as Brady. That’s how quarterbacks used to look. They were grizzled. They were scarred. They were balding. That’s how Billy Kilmer looked. He was never the prettiest. But when he made his way to Washington, man, did he win.
No. 4 – Mark Rypien (1986-1993)
You can flip a coin between Kilmer and Rypien at four and five on this list. The men, who on the surface did not appear to be at all alike, actually were very similar quarterbacks. Rypien was big and young and square-jawed when he arrived as a sixth-round pick out of Washington State. He was slated to be a developmental quarterback – perhaps a backup to would-be franchise QB Jay Schroeder.
Rypien was thrown into the fire early in the 1988 season when starter Doug Williams required an emergency appendectomy. Schroeder had been traded a few weeks before. Rypien lost his first two starts, but acquitted himself quite well, throwing for almost 600 yards and tossing five touchdown passes against two interceptions in his first two real games. In his third start, he would throw another three touchdowns and beat Dallas, the first of 45 career wins as a Washington starter.
Rypien dealt with some injuries and growing pains over his next few seasons, and then, in 1991, he led one of the greatest teams in Washington history. The ’91 season was magical from start to finish. Ryp threw 28 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. He had an outstanding 8.5 YPA.
Here’s how Rypien resembled Kilmer. Despite his big strong, strong frame, Rypien did not have the best arm in the league. Nor was he particularly mobile. But he did exactly what his coach needed. Playing behind an outstanding offensive line of Jim Lachey, Raleigh McKenzie, Jeff Bostic, Mark Schlereth, and Joe Jacoby, Rypien was able to focus on the one thing he did as well as anybody – throw deep. The line gave him time, elite receivers like Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders gave him targets, and his arm did the rest. It culminated in a dominant victory over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVI.
Two years later, Rypien would fall off a cliff. The team was getting old. He was dealing with a bad back. He would leave Washington and never repeat those glory days. But from his debut in 1988 to that magical night in January 1992, Mark Rypien was the man under center for one of the best Washington Football Teams of all-time.
No. 3 – Joe Theismann (1974-1985)
Theismann threw for more yards than any quarterback in Washington history. He started more consecutive games by a mile. He has the most wins – though that is partly due to the technicality surrounding Sammy Baugh’s positional designation. He took the team to consecutive Super Bowls, winning one.
And he didn’t become the team’s regular starter until he was almost 30.
Theismann was drafted out of Notre Dame by Miami in 1971, but he opted to play in Canada for several years. When he eventually joined the league, the Washington Football Team traded for him, making him the heir apparent to aging stars Sonny Jurgensen and Billy Kilmer. The brash Theismann did not want to wait. Sonny and Billy hated him for it.
No matter what you might say about that early arrogance, Joe was no preening diva. In order to get onto the field, the man returned punts in his first year, averaging more than ten yards a pop (Late in his career, he would offer to be the emergency punter, but the less said about that, the better).
He finally took over in 1978 as Washington was transitioning out of the George Allen era. When Joe Gibbs arrived a few years later, Theismann was ready for stardom. From 1982-1984, Theismann quarterbacked teams that went 32-8. His numbers were very good, though never the same as the elite QBs of his era.
But Theismann played above his numbers. At his best, he was the next incarnation of Fran Tarkenton, constantly spinning out of a ferocious pass rush on third and five to hit Art Monk for a crucial first down. He made plays like that week after week after week.
Theismann’s play was diminishing by 1985 when a Lawrence Taylor sack snapped his leg and ended his career. There’s no telling whether ’85 would have been his final season, or whether there was another chapter to write. Regardless of what might have been, he took his team to the mountaintop. His legacy is secure.
No. 2 – Sonny Jurgensen (1964-1974)
Aaron Rodgers, Dan Marino, Sonny Jurgensen. Those are the three best pure throwers of the football that I have ever seen in my 50+ years of watching.
Sonny came to Washington as a bit of a reclamation project in 1964. He was already 30, and his years in Philadelphia had been marked by success and controversy. Everyone could see the talent. But the suspicion was that he was a little too reckless to ever achieve his potential.
Sonny arrived at a turning point. George Preston Marshall, the only owner the team had known, was being phased out. Washington had finally integrated its roster. Bobby Mitchell had arrived a few years earlier and Charley Taylor was about to join. The defense was still a disaster, but that offense, with Sonny at the helm … wow. Washington crept back up toward respectability. And they became exciting to watch.
The fact that Sonny managed a winning record as a starter (52-51-5) is remarkable given that this was the worst team in the league at the start of the decade. By the time Washington got to the pinnacle, injury and age had forced Sonny to play a supporting role to Billy Kilmer. But the magic was still evident whenever he got on the field.
In the end, Sonny was the one to surpass Sammy Baugh’s total yardage record. He still has the second highest touchdown total in team history. In his years with Washington, he posted an 83.9 passer rating, exceptional for his era. That rating is higher than contemporary Hall of Fame quarterbacks Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr and Len Dawson. The accomplishments go on and on.
Sonny would become a beloved member of Washington’s broadcasting team for several decades after his retirement. Well into his 70s, Sonny could still tell you exactly what was likely to happen on any given play. He had talent and he had knowledge. Had he been on better teams, Sonny Jurgensen might be in the conversation about the greatest to ever play.
No. 1 – Sammy Baugh (1937-1952)
Of all the things you can say about Sammy Baugh’s place in history, this is what I consider the most fascinating. It is easier to make the case that he was the greatest football player of all-time than it is to make the case that he was the greatest quarterback.
To be sure, he is among the greatest quarterbacks ever. For me, he slots in somewhere in the second half of the top ten. But this is a man who, in addition to revolutionizing the nature of football offense in the ‘30s and ‘40s, also had more career interceptions than Patrick Peterson. He had a higher career punting average than Dustin Colquitt. Sammy Baugh did it all, and he did it all extremely well.
He came to the franchise just as they made the move from Boston to Washington and he took them to the championship in his very first season. In that championship game, played against the Bears in Chicago with the temperature hovering around 15 degrees, Baugh threw for over 350 yards and three touchdowns.
To put those numbers into historical context, that single game would have ranked Sammy number 10 in the league for passing that year.
Sammy was not alone in popularizing the forward pass. In Chicago, Sid Luckman was doing great things. In Green Bay, Cecil Isbell was doing even better. But Luckman had the advantage of playing out of the T-formation and Isbell retired after just a handful of seasons. Sammy just kept going and going and going.
Because he wasn’t officially designated as a quarterback until Washington converted to the T-formation in 1944 (until then, Baugh was a single-wing halfback who threw the ball a lot), it can be difficult to evaluate some of his statistics. But there is no denying many of his accomplishments:
- · Seven times a first-team All-Pro
- · Four times the league leader in passing
- · Two championships, and three other championship games
His career completion percentage of over 56% may not seem that special by modern standards. But when you realize that Baugh led the league in completion percentage eight times, you get a sense of how much of an outlier he was for his era.
Baugh was the first genuinely modern quarterback. He threw the ball as a matter of course – not simply as a trick play or out of desperation. He made the forward pass a regular part of the offense. He could throw long, but he often threw short, allowing his talented backs and receivers to run after the catch. He orchestrated drives that relied on passing as much as running. Watching sequences of plays from those Washington teams in the ‘40s allows you to see the seeds from which Joe Montana and Tom Brady would grow.
To list Baugh’s records would take too long, Suffice to that he retired as the NFL career leader in passing yardage. In the sixteen years from the time he broke the record, to the time Bobby Layne surpassed it, the game had changed dramatically (If you count statistics from the rival All-American Football Conference of the late 1940s, then Otto Graham broke Sammy’s record before Layne did).
Baugh was elected into the Hall Of Fame’s inaugural class in 1963.
Baugh and Jurgensen are the only two Washington quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame.