Evolution of the Quarterback: History of Every Style From Scramblers to Cannon Arms! | NFL Explained

patrick mahomes may be the face of the modern nfl quarterback pulling off what seems like the impossible at times look at the magic of the quarterback and throws it no look lamar jackson he's redefined what it means to be a dual threat signal caller oh he broke his ankles and tom brady his rings speak for themselves but can you consider any of them one of the top 10 most important quarterbacks to ever play the game time to examine the nfl qb tree it's nfl explained evolution of the quarterback [Music] this is our tree it has plenty of fruit but only eight branches one tree topper and just one trunk we're going to use it to guide us through a qb history lesson if you will filling the whole tree out to see who the 10 most important not necessarily the best but the most important qb's to have ever played the game are while also seeing who has sprung forth from their respective branches [Music] to say nfl quarterbacks have come a long way since the game's inception is as big an understatement as you can make especially when you contrast throws like this one oh my god that may be one of the great throws ever made to throws like this one described by some as the worst pass ever made but back in the day throws like that weren't really all that terrible they were just throws 1906 the forward pass was legalized and it's thrown from the above the shoulder straight past the eyebrows with the forward point up leading to great growth for the game it was not an easy ball to throw in that era it was much more round a fat football so who was responsible for paving the way for guys like aaron rodgers and peyton manning make room for the new king who is our quarterback tree trunk you have to go back to 1927 the nfl's eighth year in existence and the season fans would be introduced to benny friedman who you might consider to be the godfather of the qb position in the nfl dan marino is pro football's most prolific passer steve young has the highest passer efficiency rating ever benny friedman was pro football's first passer period friedman was such a big deal that after just two seasons in the league new york giants owner tim mera decided to buy the detroit wolverines franchise friedman played for that's right mara bought the entire franchise just to secure his rights sounds crazy but it paid off in friedman's first year as a giant he threw for a then unheard of 20 td passes a record that stood till 1942. he really developed an effective throwing motion he had his arm close to his body his hand cocked above his ear and he even called some plays at the line of scrimmage which brings us to the first branch on our tree playbook masters because as the passing game grew so did playbooks qb's had to evolve they had to be able to not only memorize hundreds of plays they had to understand them and know how to execute them in a myriad of situations the modern term you often hear for this game manager but while there have been plenty of those over the years only a select few could be labeled ultimate game managers qbs who still had all the physical talents you look for but who understood their own role within their team's playbook this is where hall of famers like troy aikman come into play he may not have always been the focus of the offense his cowboy dynasty fueled by emmett smith's legs but that's not because aikman couldn't throw he had everything you want in the quarterback i mean he had height to strength the intelligence he could throw it with velocity you can throw it with touch he always saw it with great accuracy but he also had an incredible football iq that allowed him to see the field differently and to understand his own team in a way that others couldn't his significance to the dallas dynasty built on more than just his ability to throw the football our huddle was absolute chaos there's five guys in there with big personalities just saying how we should play the rest of the game it was michael irvin nobody can cover me and we need to throw the ball more and then nate would get on him they can't hold up up front we need to run we need to start pounding emmett and as soon as troy walked back into the huddle you could hear a pin drop hard too guys hard too aikman may not have put up mind blowing stats but he consistently came through big when it mattered the most i was beautifully thrown by troy aikman that is not an easy pass to complete fellow canton resident len dawson comes from this branch packers legend bart starr hall of famer y a tittle and then there's the most accomplished qb to ever play the game sorry tom brady otto graham no man ever took a team into the final game of the season as many times as he did they caught the super bowl today in those days it was called the world championship what otto graham did is unheard of in any sport he didn't just win 81 of his games which is a record that stands to this day he played professional football from 1946 to 1955 all with the cleveland browns and he took them to the title game every one of those throws a fine pass catches on the three and rambles into the end zone for the tally he led the league in a slew of passing categories during his career but what made him truly special was his ability to run paul brown's offense which was the most intricate offense in the game brown was a pioneer an innovator who was coming up with formations no one had ever thought of let alone seen before so he had to have a qb capable of not only understanding all the complexities of it but who could execute the concepts as well otto ran the browns offense to perfection and even started to show some signs of what paul brown would later create as the west coast offense otto graham transforms the interception into a lightning light strike for a touchdown but graham wasn't the first to run an intricate nfl offense that distinction belonging to chicago's sid luckman the first evolutionary branch to spring forth from the friedman trunk sid luckman as a quarterback was the man who precipitated the t formation he's the man that made it work luckman was drafted in 1939 and while the t formation was already being run by several teams chicago's coach the legendary george halas had worked with the guy often credited as the father of the t formation clark shaughnessy to modernize it incorporating lots of fakes traps poles misdirections and play action but he needed the right qb to make it all work someone with a high iq with great footwork and an arm to make all the throws required he believed luckman to be that guy so he traded for him you had to see sid luckman play in order to believe how good he was paulus's faith in luckman paid off the bears winning four titles with luckman behind center the pinnacle coming in the 1940 championship game luckman running the bear's t-formation offense to the tune of a never been seen before or since 73-0 title win over washington 73 to nothing the largest margin of victory in the history of the national football league and it was a great victory for them and that the town sure did celebrate like many on this particular branch luckman wasn't a one-trick pony and as we go know that many of the qbs who appear on one branch could easily appear on another luckman for example was considered the best deep passer of his era but his arm wasn't what he's remembered by but how qb's used their arms became the next natural step in the evolutionary process countless cubies over the decades would make their mark based on their arms but not just for having a strong arm it was unique arm mechanics it was arm angles and arm speed too dan marino's right arm for example legendary and to this day he's still considered to be the fastest qb on the draw mourinho he looks he fires jensen again for a touchdown in the middle if you want to groom a young quarterback pull out some dan marino tape and watch the mechanics dan was literally perfect the way he threw the football through one of the more incredible passes i have ever seen by the time mourinho hung up his cleats he pretty much owned every passing record that mattered his arm in some ways changed the game at a time when most teams were throwing shorter passes don chula changed his offensive philosophy to take advantage of dan's arm talent he's a very important part of that transition from football being a running game to what it is now in the passing league it is running the ball just seemed like a waste of time with 13 taking snaps and it's a philosophy that many teams have adopted since and while mourinho had a cannon for an arm what made him really special was that release of his i loved watching him throw the football marino will throw it he pops it it is caught for a touchdown by mark clayton had special velocity and it just came out so fast never seen anything like it as far as that release i'm not sure we ever will it was subtle but the key to mourinho's lightning quick release was his throwing motion he had little wind-up and incredibly tight compact release generating power from rare torque in his torso he didn't arch his back quite as much and his follow-through was more of a left-to-right motion than the traditional front to back combined with his arm strength it made for a lethal combination the most prolific and pure passing quarterback that this generation has ever seen phillip rivers took unique throwing motions to a whole new level years later utilizing a motion few coaches would allow a pop warner quarterback to use let alone an nfl qv prior to moreno there was terry bradshaw whose nickname the blonde bomber explains why he ends up on this branch and then you have sunny jurgensen who might be best remembered for his physique but make no mistake he had an arm that was ahead of its time when you watched him play you really felt like you were watching an artist as much as you were watching a quarterback he always threw a perfect spiral it was like a feather coming out of the sky if you didn't know any better and you saw this guy warming up you might have thought you had shown up to a semi-pro beer league he had a gut usually and that caused his shirttail to kind of come out more than most guys i mean he looked more like a guy that was walking up to a bar getting ready to order a draft but jurgensen's gut was the last thing anyone was talking about after they saw him throw receivers said it was almost impossible to drop his passes because of the way the ball came down from the skies into their hands everybody's got a thing about uh you wait and i said you don't throw the ball with your stomach you throw it with your arm and talk about arm angles he got rid of the ball in every which way imaginable think of him as the og mahomes i threw side arm behind my back i was two for three left-handed he's under center and throws a pass behind his back to pete redslap jergenson of the eagles back almost trapped here and he throws one behind him pete rhett's got that ball goes to the 34. jurgensen likely learned some tricks of the arm trade from the guy he backed up when he was drafted norm van brocklin still the record holder for passing yards in a single game with 554 which he set in 1951. has something cooking crazy that no modern quarterback has ever been able to surpass it in this day and age of past happy football but the arm that set the table for everyone else that followed belonged to sling and sammy baugh one passing threat is slinging sammy ball who made history at texas christian university sammy ball was the first big arm quarterback in the national football league bob pitches once more this one in the end zone ba is the guy that is most often credited with playing the quarterback position the way we see others play it today he smashed most of the passing records that were in place at the time throwing off balance and with different arm angles without sacrificing strength or accuracy this guy was a guy who changed football with the way he threw the ball freedman might have come up with the motion but baugh was the guy who showed its full potential and it didn't matter what the conditions were like as a rookie he led washington to the title game played at wrigley field in the dead of winter he led the team to victory throwing for 335 yards if he could put up that kind of stat line in the bitter cold and win a championship while doing so there was no reason not to throw needing a touchdown to win boston's along with the wayne milner he collects it and skims along the frozen turf and the redskins win the 1937 world championship now you might be screaming how is the guy with the nickname the golden arm not on your arm branch the answer john unites was so much more than just his arm that he deserves his own branch which we're calling the prototype the qb who represented it all they didn't just have great arms and know how to master a playbook they could take over play calling duties at any moment [Music] they could make all the throws and they were many celebrities they were the face of more than the franchise they were the face of their respective cities and states and in johnny u's case he was the face of an entire sport he was everything you could ever want from the quarterback position when you look at his game you'll see the rhythm passing game the five step drop the three-step drop the pump fake the hurry up offense all these things are the things that he perfected and were copied by every quarterback from that point to this point today baugh may have revolutionized the passing game in football but unitis helped revolutionize football as a sport in the united states he had that arm of course united goes back to throw fires long but he was also one of the first qbs to work on chemistry with his star receiver you know these are the kind of routes in the 60s that you didn't see as much in the 50s or certainly in the 40s plays like this that really design beat the defense plays before montana to rice it was unites to raymond berry a combination that helped lead the colts to the title in 1958 baltimore's win over the giants and ot dubbed the greatest game ever played and putting the nfl in position to surpass baseball as america's national pass time this is the one the overtime championship that everybody points to is this was really the beginning of the national football league in the modern era that win made united a household name across america his personality and looks made him a media darling and his play on the field earned him the respect of everyone who played with or against him my high school coach let us pick our number and i asked for number 19 because of johnny united yeah and the cats used to call me joey for a while i mean he's the only jersey i've ever purchased in my life unites was more than just a qb it was like the colts had a coach on the field i really got the feeling that he much like peyton manning understood the offense and probably came back and said we've been running this run all day why don't we do a little you could almost hear it right he read defenses better than anyone ever had and because of that he controlled play calling more than any qb ever had and that set the stage for another cult who would come along decades later no one has ever taken over play calling duties quite like peyton manning did and it seemed to work out as he made and won his fair share of super bowls while doing it he was a coach on the field and that allowed him to revolutionize the no huddle and hurry up offense hey slash heidi raiders heidi raiders he's fake calling now he's dummy called omaha omaha omaha came to symbolize manning's genius and it was a staple call when he audibled at the line watching him play you almost felt bad for his oc's manning taking what unites did and perfecting it when you play against peyton manning you're playing against the quarterback and the game planner and the offensive play caller passing records fell titles followed and manning's popularity grew and he embraced it turning out to be a natural in front of the camera his personality turning out to be the polar opposite of his stoic appearance those are two plays on this car i cannot this helmet doesn't fit knocking shocking that a helmet doesn't fit you which made him the perfect pitch man for products ranging from pizza to insurance and making him the ultimate face of the franchise his brother followed in his footsteps eli another high-profile pick who fulfilled his promise beating tom brady for two titles shortly thereafter you had big ben roethlisberger another two-time super bowl winner who was the complete package in his own right before manning there was jim kelly another top 10 draft selection qb who played a heavy role in how his offense was run he was given the keys to buffalo's k-gun offense and in between kelly and unites you have broadway joe one of the most flamboyant and boisterous quarterbacks the nfl has ever seen sometimes they talk about drinking and conniving around with ladies and stuff i think we got a heck of a shot of winning it seems almost unamerican to me for a bachelor not to you know go around having a drink with the lady now man beat anybody in the world and i think we're going to win next sunday i know we're going to win i have that attitude i feel that way look at that shot namath's guarantee that new york would upset the colts in super bowl three and the fact that he pulled it off cemented his name in nfl lore but so did the way he carried himself never one to shy away from a camera an interview or a late night new york party namath was almost more than just a football star he's probably the guy responsible for making it possible to be both a player and a true celebrity he wore white shoes wore his hair along and he went his own way he was mick jagger in a football uniform oh and i like the clothes too on occasion you know i had a few nice coats and some pants and things yeah i was styling i was a part of the time man but namath shouldn't just be judged on his off-field exploits or that guarantee he was a standout field general as well and had a great arm you didn't have to look to see when the ball was released you could hear it you could hear the whoosh when the ball left his hand and his footwork was just about perfect his career though is still one of those what could have been tails a string of knee injuries prevented him from ever reaching his full potential and mobility is where the evolutionary process would head next it's the mo for modern qb's like russell wilson on the fake pressure coming big time russell wilson is currently the gold standard of a scrambling quarterback wilson has just about perfected the art of the ad-lib sure he has a few seasons where he's put up some hefty rushing numbers but most of his runs aren't by design they're the product of a play simply breaking down russell wilson does the whole russell wilson thing few quarterbacks in the game's history have had the ability to extend plays like danger russ he often looks like a kid playing the game in a street zigzagging his way around defenders before miraculously finding a receiver to throw to the circus music throw it for baldwin oh my goodness he caught it are you kidding me russell wilson he did more pirouettes than a ballerina wilson could easily show up on several of the branches of this tree from dual threat to backyard bomber but we're placing him on the scrambler branch because no one has ever really been better at it than he has unbelievable kyler murray is the most recent qb to be born from this lineage murray sharing many of the same traits as wilson and using them to pull off the improbable seven seconds six seconds murray heaves it down field it [Applause] before wilson that road was paved by the likes of donovan mcnabb the eagles great one of the best at alluding pressure with his feet steve mcnair put himself on the map in 1997 when he led the league in yards per carry racking up 650 rushing yards from the qv spot he would go for 300 plus rushing yards for six straight seasons from 1997 to 2002 and before mcnabb and mcnair there was the lefty steve young who may have had to wait a bit before taking center stage but when he finally did fans couldn't take their eyes off him [Applause] [Music] young wasn't just significant because of all those crazy highlights he produced he famously led the 49ers to trade joe montana the winner of four super bowls and a pure pocket passer a few other quarterbacks were known for using their legs before young came along but young did something none of them had ever done before which was using that style of play to win a super bowl young though was not the first ad liver to make the title game while running around in fact this branch is named in honor of one of the most important quarterbacks to ever take a snap in the nfl fran tarkenton fran tarkington was really the first model of the mobile quarterback he would just go all around run all around and play in a different way i've got i've got to change how this position is played and we're not going to win a game tarkenton's nicknames the scrambler or mad scrambler scrambling fran or sometimes frantic friend you get the point no one had seen anyone play the qb position like him the unexpected was a built-in part of his game and it helped him lead the vikings to three super bowls [Music] i think greatness is more than just being great yourself it's being able to make other people great and making a team great and that was something that fran harkington did we have to remember those players that played for a good team but just didn't happen to win the super bowl tarkenton had an arm too he wasn't just mobile but he used that mobility to buy himself time and that made him a giant headache for opposing pass rushers tark's style of play would set the stage for countless qb's that would follow and we're not just talking about the dual threat guys that we'll get to in a bit because while his branch features qbs who would take off if they couldn't find an open receiver racking up solid rushing stats along the way others started using their legs to set up ridiculous throws that used to be reserved for street football games quarterbacks like patrick mahomes for example who combined tark's scrambling abilities with a bradshaw-like arm and the willingness to take risks making him the ultimate modern backyard bomber fake jump pass let me just go back over here flip my hips this way throw it back across the field i mean that's like backyard ball how do you defend that mahomes is the face of the new age qb he's the new standard athleticism vision arm strength and a childlike view of the game that seems to give him a freedom to try things other qb's wouldn't dare look at this guy von miller on his heels he throws it left handed his game is a direct descendant of aaron rodgers rogers another signal caller who seems to defy logic when you see what he's able to pull off rogers in trouble it's going to get there he turned 32 yesterday does he have a vintage moment in it the way rogers plays you'd think he was the understudy of another backyard bomber and he was as he followed in the footsteps of brett favre who had a rocket arm and zero fear when it came to using it takes fakes the handoff rolling right pressured by mcdaniel shovels it forward touchdown he was risky i mean he was fun to watch because you never knew what he would do few qb's had as much fun playing the game as farv did he seemed to be smiling no matter what the circumstances well why would come out so early and just stand around here and do this hey you got any left-handed footballs i'm sitting here just goofing off and he was ready to flash that grin at the opposition as often as he would to his own teammates who hit me somebody hit it harder than that but you'd smile a lot too if you could pull off the kinds of plays he regularly did what a play by brett favre he shoveled the ball forward as he was going down when farve was growing up he undoubtedly saw a lot of john elway elway often using his legs to set up ridiculous across the body throws only made possible because he could throw the ball a country mile how many quarterbacks do you think can do that that's not alarm that's a gun you got to have a permit to carry that thing kenny stabler is another qb to come from this branch but all these guys owe a little something from their game to dallas cowboys great roger stauback starback looks like he might take off got away from one got away twice roger you are something else from as far back as i can remember i've wanted to be roger stahlbach i was going to run around and make a last-second throw just like he had done you're not going to find too many mind-boggling stats on staubach's resume but remember he missed five years of his prime playing years while serving in the navy one of his nicknames roger the dodger based on his ability to duck out of the way of oncoming pass rushers on third downs i used to stand next to coach lander because i held for extra points and field goals roger would drop back and he'd start to run and coach landry would go no no roger no then he go go go roger but his mobility was made that much more dangerous because of what he could do with his arm as well staubach putting his signature on the most famous deep pass play there is in football dallas was down 14 to 10 to the vikings in the nfc divisional game until staubach found drew pearson on what is now one of the most iconic past plays in the game's history i just said well i closed my eyes and said hail mary roger he's going long down the near sideline for drew pearson pearson makes the catch at the five touchdown not every quarterback relies on mobility or even having the strongest of arms qb's like drew brees were able to put up hall of fame worthy numbers by relying on rare pinpoint accuracy over 76 000 yards and now 540 touchdowns drew brees take a bow [Applause] breeze led the league in completion percentage six times and regularly completed close to 70 percent of his passes throughout his career finishing with an overall completion percentage of 67.7 how great has drew brees been his accuracy has been amazing this year he hit on plenty of deep passes overall but it was his vision and decision making that made him so special hitches throws down the seam touchdown kurt warner comes from this branch as well he led the league in completion percentage three straight years and it was during that run that he went to two super bowls winning one of them but the quarterback best known for running a system built around being accurate none other than joe montana who perfected bill walsh's west coast offense he made it look easy and i know it's not easy believe me i know it's not easy it's far from easy and i ran that offense but his footwork his his timing his accuracy there was never a double clutch it was just always in rhythm montana led the league in completion percentage five times and two of the seasons he did it the 49ers won the whole thing walsh's west coast offense was built around short horizontal routes that acted as sort of jabs that set up the big round house that would come later montana's ability to consistently hit jerry rice on all those slants was essential to keeping defenses on their heels short passing game replicating the the efficiency and the security of a running game that's what changed things and so defenses couldn't respond montana looking for the quick throw throws completed to right the ball was coming out so much faster than it happened in the past in the passing game the defenses it did take 15 20 years to catch up walsh though didn't come up with his famed approach for the 49ers and montana he did it a decade earlier with the bengals when he was their oc and the qb who first executed his new offensive concept was virgil carter it was high percentage throwing lay the ball off short let the receiver make the total yardage the run after the catch here's the thing though walsh didn't come up with the west coast offense because he thought it was a superior way of moving the ball it was mostly out of necessity on paper it worked carter led the league in completion percentage in 1971. we began to control the ball through the short pass always looking for the big play but going then to the short pass we won a division championship in cincinnati with virgil as our quarterback but that same year the bengals drafted another quarterback who had a stronger arm so walsh and the bengals got to see what his philosophy looked like with ken anderson at the wheel walsh's offense evolved once anderson took over because he was able to make some throws carter was not if you look at his 1974 and 1975 seasons looks fires into the end zone touchdown they're some of the best seasons of all time he was completing 62 percent of his passes at a time when the nfl average was 52 anderson led the league in completion percentage three times hitting on 70 of his passes in 1982 which was an nfl record at the time broken later by brees ken anderson was a pioneer anderson back to throw looks fires into the end zone touchdown i don't know if that means he's a hall of famer but i think it means he shouldn't be forgotten he took the bengals to the super bowl too ironically losing to walsh and montana prior to that meeting though walsh left cincinnati and landed in san diego first dan fouts being the next recipient of walsh's principles under the chargers air corial attacks throws touchdowns [Music] [Applause] [Music] now let's move on to our barrier buster branch this group as important as any on the tree because it opened the door to minorities being allowed to play the position which wasn't always the case coaches most of whom are white seem to believe that blacks are superior athletes but inferior thinkers like that's just what the stigma was through the league at the time i mean now we look at them so that's so stupid that's so ridiculous but back then it was reality before an african-american was tabbed as a starting quarterback you had tom flores who in 1960 became the first latino to ever start at qb in the nfl glories uncorks his ninth scoring toss of the season as he spears clem daniels with a 34-yard touchdown bomb then there was marlon briscoe who came along in 1968 briscoe the first black qb to start a game at the professional level in the modern era [Applause] october 6th 1968 the broncos playing in the afl gave brisco the starting nod against the bengals briscoe winning that game by a score of 10 to 7. the impact was that i proved that a black man could think through and lead on a national football league level now he only got the start because denver's regular starter was hurt but briscoe came back to start four more games later that season and ended up throwing 14 tds in his five starts as time progressed in fact in 1969 uh the very next year there were four quarterbacks drafted four black quarterbacks drafted as quarterbacks the nfl though still hadn't seen a black qb make a start in decades a streak that came to an end when james harris was tabbed the starter for the bills in 1971 after the afl and nfl merged harris's first start for the bills actually took place in 1969 but again that was pre-merger so technically it was for an afl team not an nfl team so the game he played in two years later carries more historical significance harris would eventually get traded to the rams who made him their full-time starter in 1974. harris threw 11 tds against just six interceptions and made the pro bowl the first black qb to ever accomplish that feat harris dropping back the pass throws toward the end zone man open touchdown los angeles i really followed the history of the game there were guys that made me think okay if these guys can play in the national football league maybe there's a chance for me to play one day because they're getting their opportunity briscoe and harris helped open the door for other black quarterbacks but two others specifically really helped put an end to the stereotype that black quarterbacks weren't smart enough to lead a team to victory consistently first came doug williams who was the first african-american qb to win a super bowl play action fake williams going up top got sanders on the fly at midfield he's gone this is history in the making the best moment to me on that game is when they announced the mvp the most valuable player of super bowl 22 is quarterback doug williams of the washington rescuers the first black quarterback to start the super bowl the first black quarterback to win a super bowl i'll tell you what i hope doug williams does i hope he puts the band once and for all about the black athlete in professional football i had no play enough down the football after that it was fine with me because as martin luther king say the mountaintop i'd been there at the top of the mountain in the profession that i was playing that was football williams though wasn't the regular starter when he won that title he only got the chance to make history because jay schroeder got hurt so there was still a stigma that a black qb couldn't do what a white qb could do and then along came warren moon warren moon turned the uh tide uh with his performance and i think he was the one that that separated the black quarterback being named black quarterback and being named a quarterback by the time moon's career was over the absurdity that a black qb couldn't master a playbook or read a defense was rendered obsolete moon's arm was electric his vision as good as anyone had ever seen the yards piled up the td passes piled up not afraid to challenge those defensive backs and so did all the pro bowl nods he made eight straight at one point cementing himself as one of the best in the game and once and for all changing the perception many gm's and coaches had about black quarterbacks warren moon paved the way man number one and it's not said enough but if you're looking for the king barrier buster you have to go all the way back to the league's first year in existence because the nfl did allow black players in the league when it started in 1920 making fritz pauler the first black quarterback to ever take snaps in the nfl he could throw the ball almost as well as anybody in the in the very very infancy of pro football the qb position wasn't utilized in 1920 the way it is today and by 1927 the league no longer allowed african americans to play on teams at all so pollard didn't exactly open the door for briscoe and others who would follow but what pollard had to endure was far worse he was playing in an era when racism was accepted by a large portion of society 1921 there were 59 african-americans lynched in this country so when you put that in perspective jim crow was at its highest at that particular time to imagine what he went through during that time where he had to sleep where he had to eat just in terms of traveling around with his football team and enduring all that is something special his story has only recently started to receive the credit it deserves and it would be an oversight not to acknowledge his place in nfl history those barrier busters created opportunity and would ultimately set the stage for qbs to take what tarkenton did and staubach did to an entirely new level cue the emergence of the true dual threat qb guys like lamar jackson who almost gives his team a 12th player to work with because when he's out there it's like the team has an extra running back fakes the inside handoff keeps it weaves in the two he's in touchdown lamar jackson you might be thinking what's the difference between scrambler and dual threat sure jackson scrambles around plenty but he's so electric with the ball in his hands the ravens changed their entire offensive approach to maximize what he can do the true dual threat guys don't just run when a play breaks down they run because the playbook calls for them to do it you inspire me cars jackson's arrival comes on the heels of qb's like colin kaepernick who used his legs to take the niners to a super bowl while he was at the helm there's cam newton of course who also has a super bowl appearance and an mvp under his belt along with a record-breaking number of rushing touchdowns and then there is michael vick who seemed more like a human highlight machine than he did a quarterback still on the run looks for the change and he'll pick up the first down on fourth and 15. did you see that wow you know how exposed he was and you know how he carried himself ball till you fall baby one play at a time don't think too far forward and never look back he was just different out there you know he was so fast and running through people like splitting people and stuff like that it's like man i gotta do that it means a lot for guys to uh want to emulate my game in every way you know when you're playing the game you don't know that you're revolutionizing the position you don't know that you're changing the game for the better prior to vic the league was treated to a number of seasons of slash cordell stewart wowing pittsburgh fans in the late 90s and early 2000s but the quarterback who really took what tarkenton started to a whole new level philadelphia's randall cunningham ladies and gentlemen randall cunningham is a ready for primetime player from 1986 to 1992 there were few players in the league more exciting than cunningham he was piling up 500 plus rushing yards from the qb spot during those years coming oh so close to a thousand yard season in 1990. i think in today's game it would have been amazing i don't know if you could have stopped this guy i really don't think he could he could flat run he is the quarterback who planted the seed that would eventually bloom the vic and lamar flowers that would spring up years later his play gave future head coaches and ocs the confidence that you could think outside the offensive box and develop offensive game plans that suited the player you had at the position instead of trying to make the player adapt to your system [Applause] cunningham had an arm too in later years he backed off running as much his 1998 season often gets overshadowed by his rushing abilities but he led the vikings to a 15-1 record that year and was named first team all-pro on the back of his league leading 38 td passes and that brings us to the treetopper tom brady isn't the fastest he doesn't have the strongest arm the game has ever seen he just happens to have played the position better than anyone in the game's history championship play right here fellas and doing it longer than anyone could have ever imagined you're number one in the world it'll always be [Music] brady has been whatever his team needed him to be he was the playbook master in his early years when the patriots dynasty got going [Applause] then he showcased his arm in later years putting up all kinds of record-breaking stats in the [Applause] this process has not seen before and to top it all off he showed he's the one qb who could even defeat father time not just making a super bowl age 43 but winning it winning it on a new team while throwing 40 tds in the process you're a legend man congrats man tom brady seems to have made a deal with the devil because he's not getting old every other quarterback got old you're too old you're too old simply put brady has set the qb bar his career is the one all other qb's will be measured against going forward you'll never see another one like this one but what will the next evolutionary branch look like could we see a six foot nine signal caller with lamar's speed and mahomes arm you can kiss him goodbye will there ever be a truly ambidextrous quarterback someone who can throw equally well right or left-handed is it going to be a qb who designs his own plays truly becoming the first ever qboc time will tell now undoubtedly you're going to want to move some of the fruit on this tree around and that's the point of this exercise maybe someone was left off but have fun with it create your own tree move qbs to different branches but for now our tree is built upon the arms legs and brains of these 10 legends benny friedman sid luckman sammy baugh johnny unitis fran tarkenton roger staubach fritz pollard virgil carter randall cunningham and tom brady the 10 most important qb's to have ever played the game breaking ground in their own unique ways allowing others to follow and perfect what they started [Music]

Channel: NFL Throwback

Views: 979,024

Keywords: nfl, american football, nfl history, nfl highlights, nfl vault, nfl throwback

Id: i88NYbk--2w

Length: 44min 21sec (2661 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Clean-Analysis-5394]

Great video, highly recommend

[u/ianthebalance]

Watched this last night, love the video