The best second-round QBs in NFL Draft history.
The allure of the first-round quarterback remains the foundational NFL building block, but a number of teams have used second-round passers to blaze memorable trails. Throughout the common draft era (1967-present), here is the best of the Round 2 QB lot.
King became a memorable name around the turn of the century. Trent Dilfer’s broken collarbone brought in King as a rookie late in a promising 1999 Buccaneers season; the Tulane product kept Tampa Bay’s car on the road. Neither King nor Kurt Warner played well in the 1999 NFC championship game, and after Ricky Proehl’s game-winning grab, a booth review deemed a final-minute Bert Emanuel grab incomplete, stymying the visitors’ last drive (and launching the “what is a catch?” era). The Bucs kept King at the controls in 2000, and he finished with an 18-13 TD-INT ratio. He also outdueled Warner in the teams’ December rematch . Brad Johnson’s 2001 arrival, however, returned King to the backup ranks.
Wildly talented, Douglass both was ahead of his time and came along at perhaps the worst possible point in modern Bears history. A 1969 draftee, the Kansas alum arrived as Gale Sayers’ knee trouble worsened and played all of one game with Walter Payton. Bringing a rocket arm and elite athleticism to the table, Douglass was inaccurate while trapped on bad teams. His 1972 season featured 968 rushing yards in 14 games. It took until 2006 for this QB rushing record to fall, when Michael Vick surpassed it in a 16-game season. Douglass held a ghastly 43% career completion percentage, but he delivered enough highlights for recognition.
