Teams
- Detroit Lions (1989-1993)
- Dallas Cowboys (1994)
- Philadelphia Eagles (1995-1998)
- Washington Redskins (1999)
- Oakland Raiders (2000-2001)
- Carolina Panthers (2002-2004)
“He’s a leader. He comes in there and tells people `Listen up, this is what we’re going to do.’ It’s like, shut your mouth because the captain’s talking.”
-Steve Smith, former Wide Receiver, Carolina Panthers (source)
Despite being a three-year starter at USC, All-Pac 10 in 1988, and Heisman runner-up that same year (behind future teammate Barry Sanders), Rodney Peete was mostly an afterthought among NFL teams heading into the Draft. The Lions “took a flyer” on the Trojan in the sixth round of the draft, coming off a 4-12 year in which their quarterbacks passed for a meager 13 touchdowns. And just three games into the 1989 season, Peete earned the starting job. His play was fair, going 3-5 and scoring nine TDs while tossing nine picks, still it was valuable experience for a rookie. The Lions finished 7-9.
Still, Detroit was not nearly impressed enough with Rodney Peete to pass on potential superstar QB Andre Ware in the 1990 Draft. The Houston alum had just won the Heisman behind an almost impossible 4,699 passing yards and 49 TDs in just 11 college games. So the Lions took him seventh overall. But Peete held onto the primary role in 1990. And while the team went just 4-7 in his starts, the pro sophomore scored 19 TDs to only eight interceptions. Meanwhile, Ware started just one game, a loss.
It looked like Rodney Peete would fully establish himself as the full-time starter in 1991, leading the Lions to the halfway point of the season at 6-2. But all that was ruined with a season-ending injury in late October. Rather than turning to an inexperienced Andre Ware, Detroit instead rode with veteran bench-rider Erik Kramer behind the wheel. Yet the Lions didn’t miss a beat, with Kramer helping guide them to the NFC Championship Game (a 41-10 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Redskins).
Nearly coming off a Super Bowl berth the year before, the Leos disappointed tremendously in ’92, going 5-11. Rodney Peete didn’t play particularly well in ten starts (2-8; 178.5 total yards per game; nine TDs and nine INTs), but he definitely outplayed Kramer and Ware. That earned him the starting gig in ’93. After three starts an injury(?) resulted in his benching for two games. He returned in Week 7 to lead Detroit to four straight wins and a 7-2 record. Then three straight losses ensued and Peete found himself on the bench for the remainder of the season. The Lions would return to the postseason, falling 28-24 to Green Bay in the Wild Card round. Peete finished the year with a 6-4 record, but 14 interceptions and 11 fumbles to only seven TDs.
Rodney Peete got a fresh start in ’94 as back-up to Troy Aikman on the two-time defending champion Dallas Cowboys. Peete won his lone start and Dallas fell just short of another Super Bowl, to San Francisco, in the NFC title game. In 1995, opportunity came knocking for the USC grad. Now playing as the Eagles’ back-up, Peete relieved an ineffective Randall Cunningham one month into the season. While the numbers weren’t mind-blowing (2,326 passing yards; eight TDs; 14 INTs), Philly responded with a 9-3 record and made the postseason at 10-6.
The Wild Card match-up was too good to be true as Peete had the chance to exact revenge on his old employer: the Detroit Lions. And exact revenge Peete did, totaling 287 yards of offense and three touchdowns in a 58-37 blowout win. The next week hurt though, as Peete was knocked out of the game in the first quarter against his other former employer, the Dallas Cowboys. With Cunningham in relief, Philadelphia fell 30-11. Peete would stick with Philly for the next three seasons, but a combination of injuries and competition with Ty Detmer and Bobby Hoying saw Rodney only make 12 starts from 1995-1997.
It looked like the former Heisman runner-up was out of chances in the NFL, now on the wrong side of 30. From 1999-2001 he served as a back-up for the Redskins and Raiders, attempting just 17 passes over those three seasons. Then in 2002, having just signed as a free agent in Carolina, Peete won the starting job out of the gate, even leading Carolina to a 3-0 start. He would finish the year 7-7 as starter for a team that had gone 1-15 the previous season, throwing for 2,630 yards, 15 TDs, and 14 INTs. Jake Delhomme would supplant Peete as the starter the following season, taking a surprising Carolina team to Super Bowl XXXVIII (a 32-29 loss to New England). Peete would finish his career as back-up to Delhomme in 2004.
Rodney Peete never had a trademark season. While he started double-digit games ten times, only once did he start more than 12 in a season. Inconsistent play was his enemy, limiting him to no seasons of 3,000 yards passing, and only one over 2,500. He only threw for double-digit touchdowns twice, but tossed double-digit interceptions three times. What he did serve well as, was a bridge quarterback for maturing teams. When he took over as the Lions’ primary starter, they improved by three wins. When he replaced Randall Cunningham in Philly, the team went from a 1-3 start to a 10-6 finish. And when Carolina was the worst team in football, he immediately helped lift them to relevance. Rodney Peete wasn’t a stats guy, but when his team needed a spark he seemed to be there. He just couldn’t maintain that spark for a full 16 games.
Chart
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 0.014 | -0.151 | -0.275 | -0.065 | 0.031 | -0.007 | -0.196 | -0.160 |
| Playoffs | 0.000 | -0.352 | 0.007 | 0.726 | 0.337 | 0.156 | 1.508 | 1.000 |
Longevity Bonus = 0.4 Title Bonus = 0.0
Index Score = -4.074 (average QB = 0.0)
Deviation Rank (out of 153)
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 77th | 139th | 149th | 135th | 45th | 100th | 146th | 140th |
| Playoffs | T-46th | 140th | 42nd | 4th | 1st | 4th | 1st | T-1st |
Why isn’t he on the Top 100 list?
Rodney Peete struggled to find the end zone. He’s bottom 10 all-time in terms of touchdowns per pass attempt (146th) and TDs per game (149th). He also finds himself in the bottom 20 for total yards per start (139th) and interception rate (140th). So while he played in 16 NFL seasons, he only started ten or more games five times, and only started two playoff games.
But what made him good?
He was actually a pretty good downfield passer, ranking 45th all time in terms of deviation for yards/completion + yards/attempt. And despite struggling to permanently lock down the starting job over his career, his team supported him with a 45-42 regular season record, ranking 77th all time and pretty good for a guy who played on some pretty mediocre teams. He was also outstanding in his lone complete playoff game, which has limited impact on his index score, but must have been sweet to crush the team that cut him a couple years prior.
The Quarterback Project 