The iconic Italian quarterback Vinny Testaverde is one of the NFL’s most accomplished quarterbacks, with a history of over 21 seasons in the league and a total of eight teams played. Despite being quite a controversial quarterback, he somehow managed to retire in the top 10 in various stats, from career passing yardage to career touchdown passes.
Testaverde began his football career playing for the Miami Hurricanes football team after receiving a scholarship to attend the University of Miami. His career included more than 70 touchdown passes, a record that was only broken by Tom Brady last year. He was inducted into the College Football and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013 with more than 275 touchdowns, 46,000 passing yards, and a whopping 267 interceptions.
Norm Van Brocklin
Although this quarterback only played for 12 seasons, he made it into nine Pro Bowls. Van Brocklin played mostly for the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles and helped them both win championships despite being an NFL active player for just over a decade. Some of his highlights include winning the NFL championship twice, both in 1951 and 1960.
Van Brocklin was inducted into both the College Football and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and 1971. He was also known as The Dutchman by many of his fans and was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1960. The star quarterback achieved an incredible lifetime stat of 8.2 yards per pass attempt, making him the third-best in history.
Y.A. Tittle
Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr began his NFL career back in 1948, playing for the Baltimore Colts. He then transitioned to the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants before retiring in 1964. With 7 Pro Bowl wins and some of the most impressive stats of the time, the legendary quarterback retired as the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, completions, and games played.
What truly set Tittle apart from other quarterbacks in his time was the sheer amount of touchdowns he helped facilitate, with over 240 to his name. In 1971, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after accumulating more than 33,000 passing yards throughout his successful career.
Dave Krieg
Dave Krieg is one of the ultimate underdog quarterbacks in the NFL. Where most players often exude a sense of charisma and grandeur as their leading traits of greatness, Krieg had mostly his heart to show for it. During his 19-year NFL career, he had a chance to play for the Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and Tennessee Oilers. Krieg won three Pro Bowl championships throughout his career and was inducted into the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor in 2004.
In 1998, the successful quarterback retired after playing one year for the Tennessee Oilers, where he replaced McNair, who was injured at the time. Although the latter recovered during the season, Krieg’s performance was so good that they chose to let him take the lead until it ended. He retired with various top-20 stats and a proud record.
Steve McNair
Steve McNair, the passer, had such a good pass that he became known as Air McNair. The three-time Pro Bowl champion played between 1995 and 2005 for Houston, The Tennessee Oilers, The Titans, and The Baltimore Ravens. He was one of the top players back at his college in Lorman, Mississippi, and had a distinguished track record throughout more than two decades in the game.
With an average of over 194 yards passing per game, Steve McNair was named Football Nation's thirty-fifth greatest quarterback of the NFL's post-merger era. Unfortunately, the quarterback retired in 2008 and didn't get a chance to enjoy his post-NFL life, as he was fatally shot by his mistress the following year. Each of his four children was given more than a quarter-million dollars from his estate.