I was watching the Kerry Collins vs the Jets highlight on Matt's BigBlueVCR twitter feed and started thinking that with where Collins was personally and professionally after his time in Carolina, and with what he was able to accomplish here, his story has to be up there.
I think the criteria has to include injury, ineffectiveness or personal struggles and the QB switched teams and went on to make a big comeback.
Drew Brees comes to mind in New Orleans. I'm not sure if anyone would have thought 1st ballot HOF and all-time great after the elbow injury.
Obviously what Collins did here was impressive. He was in a really low place. While not a HOFer, he built a respectable place in NYG history and his memorable NFC title game performance.
More recently Tannehill comes to mind. I know there must be a bunch I'm not thinking of.
How about Randall Cunningham? I'm not sure of the circumstances at the end of his Eagles career. Obviously he was a very good player for them.
I would have said Michael Vick but I just don't know if his comeback was significant enough in terms of accomplishment. He was also obviously in a very low place.
This was my first reaction too.
You're correct. My mistake.
One of the best comebacks...nice job here Johnny
I was going to post this if nobody else did.
And he wound up going to Disneyland...
Also led the Colts to a 13-1 record and the SB in 1968, until they lost to Namath and the Jets.
Young immediately came to mind, but that's Walsh's work....
Gore’s not a QB
And he wound up going to Disneyland...
What changed in '84 for Simms?
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Plunkett
This was my first reaction too.
Me too
Definitely the 1st player to come to mind. He was a super talented but wild running QB with poor passing skills on one of the worst teams of all-time. He goes to one of the best teams of all-time, sits behind one of the GOATs for 4 years and learns how to be a QB from Montana and Walsh. Then goes on to have one of the best primes for a QB in NFL history where he tears up the league and masters the WCO, he even led better offenses and put up better numbers than Montana on his way to a Championship + 2 MVPs.
Randall Cunningham in 1998 with Minnesota is a good one too imo. He was another talented running QB who head a really good career for Philly but was clearly on the decline as his athleticism and speed were no longer what they used to be. He then gets to play with Randy Moss and Cris Carter and absolutely tears up the league with his best passing season ever and is 1st team All Pro on one of the best offenses ever.
Rich Gannon was a fairly mediocre NFL QB who was mostly a backup for most of his career. He goes to Oakland and in his mid 30s he comes a star QB who was 1st team All Pro twice and led his team to the Super Bowl.
Agree. At least in my time watching football, there’s no one really close. I think I’m going with Kerry Collins number two.
Maybe Warner in his last three years with Arizona would count? Three solid seasons, including two trips to the postseason and a Super Bowl appearance.
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for a bit too.
And he wound up going to Disneyland...
What changed in '84 for Simms?
He finally stayed healthy
Can you imagine if BBI was around when Simms was drafted and in his early years? We’ve got people starting threads crying about silly things like why we haven’t cut Tate yet this offseason.
It took Simms 6 years to play a full 16 games and hit his stride with the Giants, many BBI posters would have lost their shit about him back then
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In comment 15159357 Jimmy Googs said:
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for a bit too.
And he wound up going to Disneyland...
What changed in '84 for Simms?
He finally stayed healthy
Can you imagine if BBI was around when Simms was drafted and in his early years? We’ve got people starting threads crying about silly things like why we haven’t cut Tate yet this offseason.
It took Simms 6 years to play a full 16 games and hit his stride with the Giants, many BBI posters would have lost their shit about him back then
Kinda goes without saying that the world is different now. How did people get their Giants coverage back then? Some magazine articles a few times a year, local news, and then in-season on gamedays.
Now it's all day every day. When you get bashed over the head with content you find things to complain about.
Failed and came back: Plunkett, Collins, Young. Young's bottom wasn't as low as Plunkett's or Collins's.
Starter back from injury: Brees for sure. Simms qualifies. But I don't think either was exactly a "reclamation project." Brees and the Chargers had unfortunate timing. He'd been meh at first there, the light finally went on, and then he got hurt. Simms kept getting hurt and missing big chunks of games. (If BBI had existed then, the label "china doll" would have been applied to him many, many times. One of the toughest guys you'd ever see at QB.)
Never-was to star: Guys like Rich Gannon, Steve DeBerg, who looked like career backups then suddenly jumped to another level with the right team/coach/system.
The shoulder injury and rivers arrival led to him leaving SD
Failed and came back: Plunkett, Collins, Young. Young's bottom wasn't as low as Plunkett's or Collins's.
Starter back from injury: Brees for sure. Simms qualifies. But I don't think either was exactly a "reclamation project." Brees and the Chargers had unfortunate timing. He'd been meh at first there, the light finally went on, and then he got hurt. Simms kept getting hurt and missing big chunks of games. (If BBI had existed then, the label "china doll" would have been applied to him many, many times. One of the toughest guys you'd ever see at QB.)
Never-was to star: Guys like Rich Gannon, Steve DeBerg, who looked like career backups then suddenly jumped to another level with the right team/coach/system.
Late-career Warner could fall into the second category. He was injured in 2002 (broken fingers), was benched in 2003, lost his starting job to Eli in 2004, and split time in Arizona between Josh McCown and Matt Leinart. Leinart was ineffective in 2007, so Warner came off the bench and had three strong years (2007-2009) before retiring.