There goes Carson Wentz: What happened to all 22 NFL QBs drafted between 2009-16?
Matthew Stafford — 2009, No. 1 overall
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The former Georgia Bulldog was to help Detroit recover from the curse of Bobby Layne. Stafford led the Lions to three playoff berths in his 12 seasons, and captured some of the franchise's passing records. The Los Angeles Rams traded for Stafford this offseason.
Mark Sanchez — 2009, No. 5 overall
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Sanchez did a good job riding the coattails of the New York Jets' dominant defense and productive running game for his first two seasons, appearing in two straight AFC Championship Games. However, when the defense and running game diminished, so did Sanchez. In 2014, he was Nick Foles' backup in Philadelphia before taking over and leading the Eagles to a 10-6 record yet with playoff sterility. Sanchez stayed in Philly for another year before backing up Dak Prescott in Dallas in 2016, backing up Mitchell Trubisky in Chicago in 2017, and taking over for an injury-riddled Washington in 2018.
Josh Freeman — 2009, No. 17 overall
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Freeman actually led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 10-6 record in 2010, but they didn't qualify for the playoffs. The bottom fell out for Freeman by 2013 when he was released midseason. After failing to get out of the New York Giants' offseason program in 2014, Freeman was out of football until the next offseason when he spent offseason and training camp with the Miami Dolphins. Freeman was last seen in the NFL playing the 2015 season finale with the Indianapolis Colts.
Sam Bradford — 2010, No. 1 overall
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Bradford joined the St. Louis Rams and provided some hope his first season when the club was a game away from postseason qualification. However, injuries marred his time with St. Louis. In 2015, he started for the Eagles, and then filled in for an injured Teddy Bridgewater in Minnesota from 2016-17. Bradford's 2018 tenure with the Arizona Cardinals was cut short as the team decided to go with Josh Rosen.
Tim Tebow — 2010, No. 25 overall
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Tebow led the Denver Broncos to the playoffs in 2011, and even beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round. However, John Elway felt Tebowmania was unsustainable and upgraded at the position by signing Peyton Manning. In 2012, the Broncos traded Tebow to the Jets, where he played one more season, In 2013, he spent the preseason with the New England Patriots, and in 2015, he also played the preseason with the Eagles.
Cam Newton — 2011, No. 1 overall
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Newton led the Panthers to four playoff berths from 2011-19 along with three NFC South titles and a Super Bowl appearance at the end of 2015. However, injuries and lack of production drove Newton out of Carolina. So far, not even Bill Belichick could resurrect his career after spending 2020 in New England.
Jake Locker — 2011, No. 8 overall
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Locker was taken too high and couldn't adapt to the pro game. The Tennessee Titans were still in quarterback hell after ditching Vince Young at the end of the 2010 season. Locker retired after the 2014 season.
Blaine Gabbert — 2011, No. 10
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Gabbert played with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2011-13 and then spent the next three seasons backing up Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco. He spent 2017 with the Cardinals, 2018 with the Titans, and has been the Buccaneers' backup quarterback since 2019. Yes, that means he is technically a Super Bowl champion.
Christian Ponder — 2011, No. 12 overall
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Ponder was to be the next franchise quarterback after Brett Favre retired. However, it never manifest for the Vikings. Ponder spent the 2015 preseason with the Oakland Raiders and had a stint with the Broncos in the regular season. Ponder was last in the NFL with the 2016 49ers.
Andrew Luck — 2012, No. 1 overall
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The Indianapolis Colts were able to "Suck for Luck" in 2011 and seamlessly bridged the gap from Peyton Manning to another franchise quarterback. However, they didn't protect him, and he was beaten into retirement midway through the 2019 preseason. In his nine seasons in Indy, Luck led the Colts to four playoff appearances, two AFC South titles, and were AFC runner-ups in 2014.
Robert Griffin — 2012, No. 2 overall
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Washington gave the St. Louis Rams a king's ransom to move up and take Griffin, who had a magical rookie season and then was never the same after rushing back from a torn ACL in the 2012 NFC wild-card. In 2016, he was the Cleveland Browns' answer at quarterback, which means they were asking the wrong question as usual. The former Baylor standout spent all of 2017 out of football before landing a job as Lamar Jackson's backup in Baltimore in 2018, where he remains to this day.
Ryan Tannehill — 2012, No. 8 overall
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Tannehill appeared he was going to be the solution at starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, and provided stability through his first four seasons. However, an injury in 2016 sent him on an odyssey that landed him with the Tennessee Titans in 2019 as Marcus Mariota's backup, a job he soon won. Tannehill may not have worked out for Miami, but he is working out as the Titans' franchise quarterback.
Brandon Weeden — 2012, No. 22 overall
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Again, when the Browns see you as the answer, it means they are asking the wrong question. Weeden lasted two seasons in Cleveland before landing in Dallas as Tony Romo's backup from 2014-15. He was replaced midseason in 2015 by Matt Cassel. After joining the Texans in December of 2015, Weeden played for Houston through the 2016. Weeden was in Tennessee in 2017, and then finished out his career in 2018 backing up Deshaun Watson in Houston.
E.J. Manuel — 2013, No. 16 overall
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If there ever was a quarterback-less draft, it was 2013, and Manuel was the charter member. The Buffalo Bills were looking for solutions beyond Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. Manuel lasted through the 2016 season and then was a backup in Oakland in 2017. The former Florida State product was last seen with the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2019 offseason before retiring that May.
Blake Bortles — 2014, No. 3 overall
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Bortles was a pretty good fantasy quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2014-18. He had his chance to lead the Jaguars to the Super Bowl in 2017, but only got as far as the AFC Championship Game. In 2019, Bortles was Jared Goff's backup with the Los Angeles Rams. In 2020, he was with the Denver Broncos before going back to the Rams that season.
Johnny Manziel — 2014, No. 22 overall
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Once more, if Cleveland sees you as the answer, it must be the wrong question. Nevertheless, Manziel had a case of affluenza that cost his NFL career; he was out of the league after the 2015 season with just eight starts. Manziel spent 2018 in the CFL and was in the failed AAF in 2019.
Teddy Bridgewater — 2014, No. 32 overall
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If not for Bridgewater's freak ACL injury in a late preseason practice in 2016, he may still be with the Vikings. The year before, he helped lead Minnesota to an NFC North title and Adrian Peterson was still productive. In 2018, he spent preseason with the Jets before being rescued by the New Orleans Saints backing up Drew Brees. In 2019, he led the Saints to a 5-0 mark in Brees' absence and landed with the Carolina Panthers in 2020, starting all but one game.
Jameis Winston — 2015, No. 1 overall
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"From the franchise that gave you Josh Freeman in the first round comes Jameis Winston, No. 1 overall." The Bucs took the national champion, and he never manifested as anything more than a productive passer marred by turnovers. After the 2019 season, he signed with the Saints as Brees' backup — and Sean Payton still would rather play Taysom Hill over Winston.
Marcus Mariota — 2015, No. 2 overall
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Mariota had some promise as the Titans' quarterback, leading the team to a playoff win over the Chiefs in the 2017 AFC wild-card. Yet he never took the next step to convince the organization he had the position locked down. After losing his job to Tannehill in 2019, he spent 2020 backing up Derek Carr with the Raiders.
Jared Goff — 2016, No. 1 overall
(AP Photo/Brian Blanco)
Goff endured just one season of the Jeff Fisher experience before Sean McVay took over in 2017. The Rams made the Super Bowl at the end of the 2018 campaign, but that seemed to be the limit as Los Angeles has never been back to the playoffs. The Lions traded Stafford to the Rams as part of a quarterback swap.
Carson Wentz — 2016, No. 2 overall
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Two things happened to Wentz. In 2017, he tore his ACL with three games to go in the regular season. After the Eagles won the Super Bowl, his offensive coordinator, Frank Reich, left to take the Indianapolis Colts job. Wentz was never the same, and has battled injuries every season since.
Paxton Lynch — 2016, No. 26 overall
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Elway was able to go from Tebow to Manning. So, surely he had the magic touch to go from Manning to someone else. No such luck. Lynch couldn't beat out Trevor Siemian, and he was out of football in 2018 after his last year with the Broncos. In 2019, he spent all of the offseason and preseason with the Seattle Seahawks before being a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback carousel due to an injury to Ben Roethlisberger.
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