NFL: Ranking Quarterbacks who were one-hit wonders

NFL: Ranking Quarterbacks who were one-hit wonders: 17. Steve Beuerlein

Steve Beuerlein had just the strangest NFL career under center. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders out of Notre Dame, but his season ended before it started and he was placed on IR in the preseason. That ended his rookie campaign, but he would be back as the starter in just his second year. Mike Shanahan gave him a chance, and he was fine. The next season, he lost the starting job in training camp, Shanahan was eventually fired, he got the job back from Jay Schroeder, but the tenure was strained to say the least.

Beuerlein would miss the entire 1990 season due to a contract dispute. He signed his contract, but Raiders owner Al Davis ordered that he was held out of every game. The Raiders ended up going 12-4, which didn’t help matters for Beuerlein.

He was eventually traded to the Cowboys to backup Troy Aikman. He started a few games when Aikman got injured, and he won all of them. That still wasn’t his “one hit”.

That one hit came late in his career with the Carolina Panthers. After stints with the Cardinals and Jaguars, he finally took a starting job in 1998. The Panthers were terrible, but Beuerlein was good. He led the league in completion percentage. He was great in 1999. He led the league in passing yards with 4,436. He threw for 36 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while leading the Panthers to an 8-8 record. The next season, he went back to mediocre, and he eventually retired after a stint with the Broncos.

Beuerlein is a weird one on this list since had such a long career, but it took him until he was 34 years old to have a season of note.