Here are the greatest backup quarterbacks in NFL history. In an effort to not include overqualified QBs, only passers who started less than a third of their teams’ games are eligible.
Derek Anderson
Browns 2.0 is 3-for-25 in playoff qualification, but its closest near-miss involved Anderson. Romeo Crennel benched Charlie Frye during a Week 1 loss in 2007; Anderson started the next 15 games. His first start: a 51-45 Browns conquest featuring five touchdown passes. The 2005 sixth-round pick ended that season with 29 TD passes — second-most in Browns history — and a Pro Bowl berth. After Brady Quinn could not supplant Anderson as Cleveland’s starter, he later became Cam Newton’s backup for seven seasons. His 2-0 starter record in 2014 was crucial in a 7-8-1 Panthers team’s playoff journey.
Charlie Batch
Batch posted back-to-back winning records as the Lions’ starter in 1999 and 2000, coming off the bench in ’99 to lead them to the playoffs and helping them to the postseason precipice in 2000. But an 0-12 Detroit start in ’01 led to Batch’s release and preceded one of the longest backup-QB runs in NFL history. Batch signed with the Steelers in 2002 and stayed for 11 seasons, playing until age 38. The Pennsylvania native signed seven Steelers contracts, overcame numerous challenges to his QB2 role and led Pittsburgh to six wins in nine starts — including a 2-0 mark for a 2005 team that needed both wins to allow a Super Bowl march.
Zeke Bratkowski
Bratkowski’s 1950s and early-’60s interception sprees with the Bears and Rams did not justify his second-round draft slot, but a 1963 move to Green Bay both changed the quarterback’s trajectory and provided the Packers vital Bart Starr insurance. Bratkowski stepped in on many occasions during the Packers’ ensuing NFL three-peat from 1965-67, with the team going 8-1 when he started or games in which he replaced Starr in one-score games. He threw for 248 yards in the Packers’ Western Conference playoff win over the Colts in 1965 and outdueled ex-teammate Roman Gabriel in a December 1966 win over the Rams.
Bubby Brister
Although Brister enjoyed a three-plus-season run as the Steelers’ starter, which peaked with Chuck Noll’s final playoff berth in 1989, the 16-year veteran had a lengthy second NFL life as a 1990s backup. In Philadelphia, Brister first replaced Randall Cunningham after his midseason ACL tear in 1993, starting eight games with a 14-5 TD-INT ratio. However, his most notable backup work came at age 36 in Denver. John Elway missed four games in 1998; Brister threw 10 TD passes and kept the Broncos unbeaten until December. Denver scored 30-plus points in three of those games, and Brister helped an all-time great team repeat as champions.
Cody Carlson
Warren Moon’s backup for seven seasons, Carlson mostly kept the Oilers’ high-powered car on the road. Houston made the playoffs from 1987-93. Four of those seasons featured at least one Carlson win in a spot start. The Oilers went 10-4 under Carlson, a third-round pick out of Baylor, from 1988-93. Carlson made six relief starts in 1992, twice posting 300-yard games and quarterbacking four wins. He led three game-winning drives that season. While Carlson failed as Moon’s successor in 1994, he was a steady backup during a quality Oilers stretch.
Virgil Carter
The Bengals were dealt a tough blow when potential franchise quarterback Greg Cook suffered a career-ending injury barely a few games into his run. After more injuries at QB, Cincinnati turned to Carter in 1970. The mobile ex-Bears sixth-rounder became the guinea pig for Bill Walsh’s future West Coast Offense, piloting the Bengals from 1-5 to a playoff berth. Then a Bengals assistant, Walsh used a short-pass system to help Carter. In 1971, Carter led the NFL in completion percentage. He gave way to first-rounder Ken Anderson in 1972 but hung around as an NFL backup until 1976.
Todd Collins
Longevity counts in QB2 annals; Collins supplied this better than most. Elvis Grbac’s Michigan Wolverines successor played 16 NFL seasons, beginning as Jim Kelly’s Bills heir apparent but settling in as a backup for most of his career. Collins initially helped the 1996 Bills make the playoffs, filling in for Kelly thrice, and spent much of the 2000s as Trent Green’s seldom-seen Chiefs backup. Collins resurfaced in a key spot at age 36, filling in for Jason Campbell and going 3-0 with a 5-0 TD-INT ratio to lift Washington to the 2007 playoffs. Collins threw two TD passes in Washington’s first-round loss in Seattle.
Chase Daniel
Daniel banked more than $41 million and did so without ever being signed to start for a team. Perhaps this era’s quintessential NFL character-actor equivalent was a Mizzou Heisman finalist before backing up Drew Brees, Alex Smith, Carson Wentz, Brees again, Mitchell Trubisky, Matthew Stafford and Justin Herbert. Daniel’s 11-year stat line: 186 completions on 273 attempts, nine TD passes, seven INTs. He completed 70% of his passes in each of his two-game samples with the Bears from 2018-19 and helped their 2018 team to an NFC North title. Daniel lasted 13 seasons, closing his career as a backup-QB groomer to Easton Stick in Los Angeles
Gary Danielson
Danielson played 15 pro seasons, the first two in the short-lived World Football League. The future college football analyst caught on with the Lions, with whom he played nine seasons. Despite playing in the final era for soaring INT totals, Danielson finished his career with an 81-78 TD-INT ratio. He took the Detroit starting job midway through 1978 and dropped a Lions-record five TD passes on the Vikings. Danielson split time with Eric Hipple in Detroit’s NFC Central title year in 1983 but threw five INTs in a playoff loss to the 49ers. Danielson finished his career as Bernie Kosar’s Browns backup.
Doug Flutie
Almost overqualified for this list but not quite. Flutie’s most notable NFL work came in 1998, when he replaced Rob Johnson and helped the holdovers from Buffalo’s Super Bowl teams voyage to two more playoff brackets. Flutie’s first NFL backup foray went poorly, with the undersized USFL alum stumbling for the 1986 Bears. He spent most of the ’90s as a Canada icon before resurfacing as a 1998 Pro Bowler. The dual-threat passer was inexplicably benched for the Music City Miracle game but again came off the bench to help the Bills in 2000. Flutie finished a 21-year pro career by playing behind Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
