NFL: Ranking Quarterbacks who were one-hit wonders
By Nick Villano
NFL: Ranking Quarterbacks who were one-hit wonders: 19. J.P. Losman
Back to the mid-2000s Buffalo Bills, who just had the hardest time finding the right quarterback for the long term. J.P. Losman was supposed to be better than he was. The Bills took him with the 22nd-overall pick after trading back into the first round. They added him and Lee Evans at the same time during the NFL Draft, but obviously one had a much bigger impact for the Bills than the other.
He didn’t play much during his rookie season, but the Bills finally gave him a chance in his sophomore campaign. He was taken in the same first round as Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, and Philip Rivers, who were all pretty successful by their second year. The Bills were hoping Losman could have similar success.
He did not, but his third year was at least serviceable. Losman won the job in training camp for new head coach Dick Jauron. He was trying to shake the “bust” moniker. He looked really good at times during his third year, and his overall stats were 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. It looked like the Bills finally got their guy, especially the last-minute drives to beat the Jaguars and Texans.
After his successful campaign, things went downhill with the Bills organization quickly. They drafted Trent Edwards in the third round. Losman got hurt, and they left him on the bench for Edwards when he was fully healthy two weeks later. The players were not happy their starting quarterback was not allowed to get his job back, and when Losman eventually got back into the lineup due to an Edwards injury, he wasn’t given the same luxury of getting to earn the starting job.
Losman was out of the league one year later and forced to play in the UFL. Former 1st-round quarterbacks are usually given a chance to backup for years. Losman got a chance with the Raiders a few years later, and got very short stints with the Dolphins and Seahawks. It could have all been different if the Raiders just didn’t deal with Losman’s career like they did.