Join us as we take a look at the best quarterbacks in the history of the Cincinnati Bengals, starting with some interesting extras.
During the dog days of summer, there is little new beyond potential injuries which can enter the information cycle and mean anything substantial for the upcoming season for teams. What this time of year is excellent for, however, is taking a look back at the history as we prepare for another season.
While the Cincinnati Bengals prepare for another season with hopes for a return to the playoffs, I want to take some time now to see where the players on their current rosters stack up to the team’s historical counterparts.
We’ll be going through every position group at some point during this exercise, beginning with the quarterbacks.
The Interesting Extras
Before we get to the actual best options, here are some other interesting names which came up during the research of this position group throughout Cincinnati’s history:
Dewey Warren
The first quarterback to start a game for Cincinnati. Like far too many of the men under center for the franchise, however, he turned out to be pretty awful in a short career. He started only four professional games and was active for just seven, completed 58.8 percent of his passes, and tossed four times as many interceptions (4) as he did touchdowns (1). By Cincinnati’s second season, he was already gone.
Sam Wyche
Much better known for his coaching tenure with the team — and for good reason. His innovation play-calling as head coach led the team to the precipice of winning the 1988 Super Bowl, but his abilities as a quarterback decades earlier were as replaceable as they come. Just nine starts in three seasons with Cincinnati, with a 2-7 record and 12-9 TD-INT ratio.
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Ryan Fitzpatrick
He wasn’t long for the Bengals, but the Harvard quarterback somehow known more for his epic beard did make a short stop here before becoming one of the league’s journeymen veterans under center. In two seasons with the team he started 12 games in Carson Palmer’s stead, completing just under 60 percent of his passes for 1,905 yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. He wasn’t a game-changer (4-7-1 record), but his 50.4 QBR in 2008 was the perfect indicator of the player he’s been for the majority of his career: a decent bridge quarterback or quality backup option.
Mohamed Sanu
Not technically a quarterback, but in his four seasons with Cincinnati he was a key component on trick plays where he acted as a passer. He completed all five of his attempted passes with the team for 177 yards, two 50+ yard completions, and two touchdowns. The best part: Cincinnati won all five games where Sanu threw a pass.
A.J. McCarron
Had things worked out a bit differently in the past few years, McCarron may have found himself among the main list of Bengals signal-callers. Back in 2015, he showed that he can play win-worthy football as a cog in a talent-laden machine after Andy Dalton went down. Had Cincinnati actually managed to beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs that year (still one of the more frustrating and improbable outcomes in recent memory), McCarron becomes the guy who broke the team’s losing streak in the postseason.
With that, he can make a claim for the starting spot entering that offseason. With Dalton’s play stepping back the past couple years, McCarron also could have been an option for the team to consider as the potential starter going forward instead. Those shall remain “what if” scenarios though — scenarios which Cincinnati may regret down the line should he prove himself while he’s with Buffalo.
Jeff Blake
A late pick by the New York Jets in the 1992 draft, it would only take a couple years for him to arrive on the team which spent their top pick in his draft on someone else at his position. Though Blake wasn’t exactly successful with Cincinnati himself, had the team just selected him later in that draft while using their earlier pick to shore up other weaknesses, the team may have actually managed to be a decent franchise for a little while during their miserable Bungles years.
At the very least, he was a massive improvement in terms of his scoring versus turnovers: in six seasons with the team, he threw 93 touchdowns against 62 interceptions. Lacking accuracy (55.8 percent completion rate) and limited talent around him unfortunately helped undermine his positives more often than not, however, and he would never lead the team to a winning record in his time as a starter.
David Klinger
An early indicator of what would be a miserable first decade with Mike Brown taking over as owner of the Bengals due to the passing of franchise architect Paul Brown. Klinger was the sixth-overall selection in a 1992 draft which may be one of the worst at the position in the past 30 years (the best quarterback from the draft is Brad Johnson, no question).
Klinger was 4-20 as a starter for Cincinnati, barely completing half his passes (54.2 percent) while tossing more interceptions (21) than touchdowns (16) and taking sacks on nearly 11 percent of his dropbacks. Had he done a halfway decent job of quarterbacking, the 90s wouldn’t have been a cesspool of despair for the franchise; instead, misery begat more misery with poor decision-making in determining who would lead the team from under center, which led to the selection of the next guy.
Next: NFL 2018: Biggest offseason mistake for each team
Akili Smith
Among the biggest draft busts ever, and the leading candidate for worst quarterback to ever helm this franchise. Cincinnati had plenty of better options with this pick: they could have traded down with Mike Ditka’s New Orleans Saints (who offered as many as nine draft picks spread across not only 1999 but the next season as well to move up from No. 7 to No. 3), taken a different quarterback available (Daunte Culpepper went at No. 11), or taken the best available player (Edgerrin James, Ricky Williams, Torry Holt, Champ Bailey, and Chris McAlister were all taken in the top 10 before having really good careers) while waiting for a later quarterback prospect (Aaron Brooks was eventually taken in the fourth round; while not perfect, he was at least starter-level for a few seasons of his career).