An additional thought on the USFL, which began play 30 years ago this week. That league landed a bunch of big-time quarterbacks, and I don't understand why those guys weren't more successful.
Steve Young and Doug Williams, most notably, went on to be Super Bowl MVPs, but they didn't make much of an impact in the USFL. Brian Sipe was a former NFL MVP, but he was a disappointment with the New Jersey Generals and Jacksonville Bulls. Doug Flutie flopped in New Jersey. He's similar to Young, I think, in that experience and coaching made him a much better quarterback later in his career.
Jim Kelly put up the best passing numbers in the USFL, winging it in the run-and-shoot offense of the Houston Gamblers. No surprise there; Kelly was a capable passer. But look at the two passers who finished with even higher passer ratings. Chuck Fusina and Cliff Stoudt. Stoudt was god-awful with Pittsburgh in 1983, throwing 21 interceptions and only 12 touchdowns.
By my count, six of the top 11 passers in the USFL were guys who never had success at the USFL level, which is not what I would expect. On the chart below, I've got those guys (players with no NFL success) in bold. I've got players who had at least some NFL success in plain type.
Single-season passing stats for notable USFL quarterbacks
Pct Yards TD Int Rate Year
65% 3837 31 9 104.7 1984 Chuck Fusina (Stars)
58% 3121 26 7 101.6 1984 Cliff Stoudt (Stallions)
63% 5219 44 26 98.2 1984 Jim Kelly (Gamblers)
63% 4623 39 19 97.9 1985 Jim Kelly (Gamblers)
63% 3534 26 15 92.8 1984 Greg Landry (Wranglers)
60% 3358 34 19 91.2 1985 Cliff Stoudt (Stallions)
57% 3561 27 17 86.7 1983 Bobby Hebert (Panthers)
58% 4092 28 16 86.3 1984 John Reaves (Bandits)
54% 3811 30 19 86.1 1985 Bobby Hebert (Invaders)
63% 3980 21 16 85.1 1983 Fred Besana (Invaders)
61% 3496 20 14 84.0 1985 Chuck Fusina (Stars)
59% 2540 17 15 82.3 1984 Brian Sipe (Generals)
58% 2361 10 9 80.6 1984 Steve Young (Express)
57% 2718 15 10 78.1 1983 Chuck Fusina (Stars)
54% 3758 24 22 76.4 1984 Bobby Hebert (Panthers)
53% 3673 21 17 76.4 1985 Doug Williams (Outlaws)
56% 2672 20 16 74.7 1983 Alan Risher (Wranglers)
56% 3772 20 18 74.0 1983 Johnnie Walton (Breakers)
56% 4193 25 29 73.2 1985 John Reaves (Bandits)
55% 3554 17 19 72.2 1984 Johnnie Walton (Breakers)
57% 3068 18 25 69.3 1985 Rick Neuheisel (Gunslingers)
56% 2813 11 19 68.9 1983 Bobby Scott (Generals)
48% 2109 13 14 67.8 1985 Doug Flutie (Generals)
55% 1741 6 13 63.1 1985 Steve Young (Express)
49% 3084 15 21 60.5 1984 Doug Williams (Outlaws)
^aEUR"Ian Allan
Factoid
March 07, 2013