Last week, one of the rants had me go looking at the first round of the 1948 NFL Draft. In so doing, I learned that two Hall of Fame QBs came out of that Draft – – Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle – – except that neither one of those QBs won a championship with the team that selected them. Tittle never did win a championship even though he led the Giants to the NFL Championship game three straight years in the 1960s. Layne was on three NFL championship teams with the Lions in the 1950s; he started at QB for two of those teams but missed the third championship game due to injury.
That rant led to me receiving an email from a frequent reader and commenter on various posts; he uses the screen name “TenaciousP”. Here is the text of his email:
“Bobby Layne and YA Tittle. Neither won a championship with the team that drafted them. Which raises the data question: how many quarterbacks, 1948 – 2025, were drafted by the team that won a Super Bowl with them at the helm? I’m an idea person.”
I am not a DJ; I don’t take requests; that would damage my street cred as a Certified Curmudgeon. However, the question intrigued me and I went looking. I restricted my search to the Super Bowl era which began with the Packers and Chiefs playing in January 1967 at the LA Memorial Coliseum. If I have counted correctly, there have been 21 Super Bowl winning QBs who started and won the Super Bowl with the team that drafted them originally. Here is my list chronologically:
- Bart Starr – – Packers
- Joe Namath – – Jets
- Roger Staubach – – Cowboys
- Bob Greise – – Dolphins
- Terry Bradshaw – – Steelers
- Ken Stabler – – Raiders
- Joe Montana – – Niners
- Jim McMahon – – Bears
- Phil Simms – – Giants
- Jeff Hostetler – – Giants
- Mark Rypien – – Skins
- Troy Aikman – – Cowboys
- Tom Brady – – Pats
- Ben Roethlisberger – – Steelers
- Peyton Manning – – Colts
- Aaron Rodgers – – Packers
- Joe Flacco – – Ravens
- Russell Wilson – – Seahawks
- Nick Foles – – Eagles
- Patrick Mahomes – – Chiefs
- Jalen Hurts – – Eagles
Note that John Elway and Eli Manning are not on this list. Technically, Elway was drafted by the Colts and traded “immediately” to the Broncos; similarly, Manning was drafted by the Chargers and sent directly to the Giants. Elway won Super Bowls with the Broncos and Manning won Super Bowls with the Giants – – but they are not on this list.
There have been 59 Super Bowls to date. This list of 21 QBs who won Super Bowls for the team that drafted them represents well more than half of the Super Bowl games played. Nine of these twenty-one QBs won multiple Super Bowl games including seven wins for Tom Brady and four wins each for Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana.
So, now you know …
Finally, to be sure that I remain a Curmudgeon in Good Stead after taking a request, let me close with these pronouncements by a Hall of Fame Level Curmudgeon, H. L. Mencken:
“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.”
And …
“It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.”
And …
“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………