'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwf/2gAIAQEAAAAAi4f/xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAE/9oACAECEAAAADf/xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC/9oACAEDEAAAAF//xAAfEAACAgIBBQAAAAAAAAAAAAACAwEEACEFERITImH/2gAIAQEAAT8AoV+NgDZUW5TlPMUNE/ZZa8e9bnpO8NFJRks6PLsMJ7ZML6xEvsRI6jP/xAAWEQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgD/2gAIAQIBAT8Aq0d//8QAFBEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/aAAgBAwEBPwB//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL and that won’t change for as long as the sport is played.
Over the past decade, we’ve seen some simply stupendous players throw the ball in the NFL, keeping fans astounded on a weekly basis. They impressed one and all with their feats of magic with the ball in their hands.
Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson have all but revolutionised their positions since being drafted, yet not every player can have such a positive impact. As is impossible to avoid, for every success story in the NFL, there is an equally negative outcome for another individual.
The 2010s saw some quite awful quarterback play from a number of guilty parties. Some were so bad that an infamous play is now named after them, whilst others failed to live up to expectations due to an out-of-control off-field life.
Who were the 10 worst NFL quarterbacks of the 2010s?
#10 Geno Smith
Geno Smith had talent at the quarterback position, but describing his career in the NFL as a negative snowball would be an understatement.
However, it's not entirely his fault that he arrived at a poor New York Jets team that was bereft of leadership and veteran presence who were used to winning.
After being drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, Smith would hugely struggle with interceptions in his first two years, throwing a grand total of 34. He didn’t inspire any confidence within the locker room either.
This ultimately culminated in an unfortunate incident. His own teammate, IK Enemkpali, broke his jaw with a right hook that left Smith out injured for most of the 2015 season.
He never regained his place, and has since gone onto become a backup option with the Giants, Chargers and Seahawks. But in terms of quarterback production, Smith stands as one of the worst of the 2010s.
#9 Blaine Gabbert
Thrown into the dumpster fire that has been Jacksonville football for the best part of a decade, Blaine Gabbert has had a forgetful NFL career.
It is worth nothing, however, that he is classed as a Super Bowl winner. Gabbert rode Tom Brady’s coattails to a championship in Tampa Bay, throwing a grand total of 27 passes in three years.
But he remains one of the most disappointing picks of the previous decade. Picked 10th overall in the 2011 NFL Draft, Gabbert had a below average rookie year where he threw just 12 touchdown passes, as well as 11 interceptions. He was also sacked 40 times and fumbled the ball on 14 occasions.
It was a setback that he never recovered from, with the Jacksonville Jaguars never really having patience with him as a long-term starter again.
#8 Mark Sanchez
Picked up by the New York Jets with the fifth overall pick in 2009, Mark Sanchez was supposed to save NFL football in the Big Apple. Instead, he is somehow remembered the most for his "butt-fumble."
Ironically, the four years he had as a starter in New York were four of the better years the Jets have had for a long time. They had a strong roster that just needed a better quarterback. Sanchez made too many mistakes, some at the costliest moments, and that became his legacy.
He never finished a season with the Jets without at least nine fumbles.
The butt-fumble was the worst of the lot. Not only did Sanchez misread what the play was supposed to be, but he didn’t have the awareness to know where his own O-Line were positioned. While attempting to slide to safety to avoid Vince Wilfork, he slid into the backside of one of the O-Line members, fumbling the ball in the process.
New York soon lost patience and Sanchez was out, with a specific QB training session called "The Sanchez Program" to eliminate QB fumbles being created.
#7 Jake Locker
The 2011 NFL Draft saw another QB taken earlier, with Jake Locker going to the Tennessee Titans at #8. When an NFL career lasts four seasons, with a player being a nailed-on starter in just one of them, that tells you everything you need to know.
Locker was a backup in his rookie year and was then chosen to lead the Titans in his second year. In 11 starts, he threw for more interceptions than touchdowns and fumbled the ball four times.
Injuries followed, but Locker couldn’t escape the poor performances when he was on the field. He retired in 2015 citing a loss of passion for the sport, cementing his place as one of the biggest busts of the 2010s.
#6 Brandon Weeden
Another name on the lengthy list of Cleveland Browns QB failures, Brandon Weeden arrived in 2012 as the 22nd pick at 28 years of age. His professional MLB career began with the New York Yankees in 2002, yet just a decade later he was in the NFL.
You have to commend the work ethic, but his career in professional football went exactly as you’d expect.
He started 15 games as a rookie, throwing 14 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. These stats are alarming, but nowhere near as bad as some on this list. However, he just lacked the pop needed to survive in the NFL. His passes were simply not accurate enough and he was never going to take the team to the next level.
Weeden's poor displays saw him constantly benched throughout his second year in Cleveland, and he was released at the end of the 2012 season.
#5 Christian Ponder
The sample size of Christian Ponder as an NFL quarterback is admittedly much larger than that of others on this list. But that just purely gives us more evidence to understand how bad he was.
Given the starting job in Minnesota for three seasons after being drafted 12th overall in 2011, Ponder’s returns were woeful. His entire career with the Vikings ended with 38 touchdowns and 36 interceptions, as well as 20 fumbles.
Ponder struggled to read defenses, even three years into life in the NFL, and he panicked as soon as any defender got near the pocket. He was one of those players who simply didn’t have the makeup to be an NFL quarterback.
#4 Josh Rosen
Josh Rosen arrived into the NFL with a lot of hype as part of one of the most stacked QB draft classes in years. He was selected 10th overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 2018, but doubts were raised about his abilities and fit immediately.
He would start just 13 games in his one and only year in Arizona, throwing 14 interceptions to 11 touchdowns. Rosen was sacked 45 times and fumbled the ball on 10 occasions to boot.
It was a historically bad year for the Cardinals QB, and ironically one which helped the franchise out immensely. They were able to pick first overall in 2019 and got Kyler Murray, the replacement for Rosen.
The latter was traded immediately to Miami, where he would start just three games, losing all of them whilst throwing just one touchdown and five interceptions. Rosen didn’t play at all in 2020 with the San Francisco 49ers, whilst in 2021, he threw just 11 passes all season, two of which were interceptions.
It’s hard to fathom the 10th overall pick being bounced between four teams in as many years. As a free agent in 2022, his NFL career is essentially over, and it is one of the most forgettable in living memory.
#3 DeShone Kizer
Cleveland features heavily on this list, unsurprisingly, and DeShone Kizer was another name they drafted and spat out after years of disappointing performances. Hue Jackson wanted Colin Kaepernick signed, but received Kizer and oversaw the latter play his part in the 0-16 season.
Kizer started a full 15 games in the 2017 NFL season, but his performances were appalling. He completed just 53.6% of his passes, threw double the number of interceptions to touchdowns with 22 and 11 respectively, and fumbled the ball nine times.
The fact that he led an NFL team to only the second ever 0-16 season is telling, and he never got to be a starter again. Kizer was traded to Green Bay after his rookie year, where he would throw 42 passes, no touchdowns and two interceptions.
He has not played an NFL snap since and is unlikely to ever do so again.
#2 Johnny Manziel
The only thing stopping Manziel from reaching the top spot on this list is that he had some natural talent as a quarterback. It’s almost entirely his own fault that he had such an abysmal career in the NFL.
Selected by the Browns, every quarterback’s favourite franchise, Johnny Football entered the NFL as a celebrity before he had achieved anything at the pro-level. A rookie QB being fined for a hand-gesture made towards opposing fans in a pre-season loss is almost unheard of. Yet Manziel made it a reality.
He would be judged accurately by the Browns’ coaching staff, who started Manziel in just two NFL games in 2014. He threw two interceptions and no touchdowns.
Many expected 2015 to be the comeback year for Johnny Football. He was settled in Cleveland, but that proved to be his undoing as he appeared to party constantly. That year, he started six games and threw seven touchdowns to five interceptions, but his play was nothing more than below average by quite some distance.
A domestic violence incident was the last straw for the Browns. They were so desperate to get rid of Manziel, theyeven released a statement suggesting his future would be addressed "as soon as permitted by league rules."
He never played in the NFL again.
#1 Paxton Lynch
Paxton Lynch was never a first-round calibre quarterback. He was then thrown into an awful situation created by the Denver Broncos and their mismanagement of Peyton Manning’s retirement. Once in the NFL, Lynch was just awful.
He would never do enough to convince the Broncos that he was starting QB material. Lynch played for the defending Super Bowl champions and threw just two touchdowns in his rookie season.
His second season was no better, as he struggled to even get time on the field. The Broncos knew he was a bust and the rest of the watching world did too.
He threw 128 passes in the NFL with four being touchdowns and four being interceptions. For a first-round selection, that is a dreadful return on investment.
Lynch then had spells on the practice squads of Seattle and Pittsburgh, never doing enough to earn a deal. His NFL career was as short as it was dismal as a result.
He was most recently picked in the 12th round of the United States Football League draft after playing as a third-string QB in the Canadian Football League.
Do you love to play crosswords, Wordle or other exciting games? We'd like to connect with you. Fill the form here!
