The Vikings are starting an undrafted rookie free agent at quarterback today. That doesn’t happen often, but the results have been a little better than what you might expect.
Of the last 11 such quarterbacks (and I wouldn’t make this up) over half have won their first starts. Tyson Bagent two years ago. Remember Duck Hodges for the Steelers? Previously, Kyle Allen, Matt McGloin, Max Hall and Matt Moore.
Since the merger, 27 undrafted quarterbacks have started a game in their first year. A third of those occurred in 1987, when the players were on strike (with owners plugging in replacement players). That’s something different, so I’ve got those guys tagged with black dots.
Brosmer has excellent weapons at his disposal, along with a coach who’s been effective at putting together quarterback-friendly schemes. Not this year with J.J. McCarthy, of course, but previously with others. With that in mind, my leaning is that Brosmer will probably outperform McCarthy. Admittedly, that’s a low bar, but let’s see what he can do.
I would be more excited about Brosmer with a more favorable matchup. Seattle has one of the top few defenses in the league.
| UNDRAFTED ROOKIE FREE AGENT QUARTERBACKS -- FIRST STARTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Opp | Result | Com | Att | Pct | Yards | TD | Int |
| 1970 | Don Gault, Cle. | Pitt. | W, 15-7 | 1 | 16 | 6.3 | 44 | 0 | 2 |
| 1970 | Rick Arrington, Phil. | at G.B. | L, 17-30 | 3 | 10 | 30.0 | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 1973 | Bill Demory, NYJ | at N.E. | W, 9-7 | 1 | 7 | 14.3 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 1975 | J.J. Jones, NYJ | at S.D. | L, 16-24 | 1 | 5 | 20.0 | 13 | 0 | 1 |
| 1987 | • Shawn Halloran, St.L. | at Was. | L, 21-28 | 16 | 35 | 45.7 | 258 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | • Bob Bleier, N.E. | Cle. | L, 10-20 | 10 | 26 | 38.5 | 138 | 1 | 0 |
| 1987 | • Matt Stevens, K.C. | at Rdrs. | L, 17-35 | 14 | 25 | 56.0 | 162 | 1 | 0 |
| 1987 | • Ed Rubbert, Was. | St.L. | W, 28-21 | 14 | 24 | 58.3 | 334 | 3 | 1 |
| 1987 | • Erik Kramer, Atl. | Pitt. | L, 12-28 | 5 | 13 | 38.5 | 48 | 0 | 2 |
| 1987 | • Adrian Breen, Cin. | S.D. | L, 9-10 | 3 | 5 | 60.0 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 1987 | • Jim Crocicchia, NYG | S.F. | L, 21-41 | 6 | 15 | 40.0 | 89 | 1 | 0 |
| 1987 | • Mike Busch, NYG | Was. | L, 12-38 | 14 | 41 | 34.1 | 183 | 1 | 1 |
| 1987 | • Jeff Van Raaphorst, Atl. | S.F. | L, 17-25 | 5 | 13 | 38.5 | 61 | 0 | 1 |
| 1991 | Brad Goebel, Phil. | at T.B. | L, 13-14 | 9 | 20 | 45.0 | 62 | 0 | 2 |
| 2000 | Doug Johnson, Atl. | Sea. | L, 10-30 | 17 | 33 | 51.5 | 233 | 1 | 2 |
| 2002 | Chad Hutchinson, Dall. | Sea. | L, 14-17 | 12 | 24 | 50.0 | 145 | 1 | 0 |
| 2007 | Matt Moore, Car. | Sea. | W, 13-10 | 19 | 27 | 70.4 | 208 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | Max Hall, Ari. | N.O. | W, 30-20 | 17 | 27 | 63.0 | 168 | 0 | 1 |
| 2013 | Jeff Tuel, Buff. | K.C. | L, 13-23 | 18 | 39 | 46.2 | 229 | 1 | 2 |
| 2013 | Matt McGloin, Oak. | at Hou. | W, 28-23 | 18 | 32 | 56.3 | 197 | 3 | 0 |
| 2014 | Connor Shaw, Cle. | at Balt. | L, 10-20 | 14 | 28 | 50.0 | 177 | 0 | 1 |
| 2018 | Kyle Allen, Car. | at N.O. | W, 33-14 | 16 | 27 | 59.3 | 228 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | Devlin Hodges, Pitt. | at LAC | W, 24-17 | 15 | 20 | 75.0 | 132 | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | David Blough, Det. | Chi. | L, 20-24 | 22 | 38 | 57.9 | 280 | 2 | 1 |
| 2022 | Anthony Brown, Balt. | at Cin. | L, 16-27 | 19 | 44 | 43.2 | 286 | 0 | 2 |
| 2023 | Tyson Bagent, Chi. | L.V. | W, 30-12 | 21 | 29 | 72.4 | 162 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | Tommy DeVito, NYG | at Dall. | L, 17-49 | 14 | 27 | 51.9 | 86 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | Max Brosmer, Min. | at Sea. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan