Teams
- Arizona Cardinals (2002-2005)
- Detroit Lions (2006)
- Oakland Raiders (2007)
- Carolina Panthers (2008-2009)
- Chicago Bears (2011-2013)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014)
- Cleveland Browns (2015-2016)
- New York Jets (2017-2018)
- Philadelphia Eagles (2019-2020)
- Houston Texans (2020)
“[Josh McCown has] been on a lot of different teams, and he’s able to talk to the young guys and just impress upon them how important their role is, even if it is a small role. He’s done a great job, and he’s put in a lot of hard work these last couple of weeks to get where he’s at.”
-Jay Cutler, former quarterback, Chicago Bears (source)
The ULTIMATE rent-a-quarterback. The list of teams shown above doesn’t even account for being on the Dolphins’ and 49ers’ practice squads, nor a year with the UFL’s Hartford Colonials. And yet, Josh McCown found himself on an NFL roster in 18 seasons. McCown thrived as a college quarterback, winning Southland Football Conference “Player of the Year” honors at D-IAA Sam Houston State after transferring from D-1 Southern Methodist (SMU). He was the fourth quarterback selected in the 2002 NFL Draft, taken by the Arizona Cardinals, in the third round at #81 overall.
Playing time was hard to come by during Josh McCown’s first two NFL seasons. His rookie year of 2002 saw him make just two appearances, throwing 18 passes for 76 yards and two interceptions, while sitting behind Jake Plummer. With the 3-10 Cardinals out of playoff contention in 2003, head coach Dave McGinnis let McCown start the season’s final three contests. The young QB played decently, averaging 261 yards of offense and scoring four TDs (along with two INTs and six fumbles). But the highlight was McCown leading the Redbirds to two touchdowns in the final two minutes of their season finale against Minnesota, including a 28-yard TD pass as time expired to prevail 18-17. While the win meant little for Arizona (other than their quarterback’s first career win), it memorably eliminated the 9-7 Vikings, who had started the year 6-0, from the postseason.
Josh McCown’s late-season play earned him the starting job in 2004. While his 2.5% INT rate was good enough to place him in the Top 10 among quarterbacks, he only found the end zone 13 times in 13 starts. Under new head coach Dennis Green the Cards won six games with McCown under Center, but also lost seven with him and three more without him in a blah 6-10 year. In the offseason, Arizona signed veteran Kurt Warner which limited McCown to just six starts in 2005. And while McCown won three of those, he was also picked off 11 times to just nine touchdowns.
Leading into the 2006 season, Josh McCown left greater Phoenix for the Motor City, inking a two-year deal with the Lions. However, his new team went with Jon Kitna for all 16 starts, and McCown never attempted a pass for Detroit. Seeing potential in the former Arizona starter, the Oakland Raiders traded for him one year later. While McCown was Oakland’s opening day starter, injuries contributed to limiting him to only nine starts. The Silver & Black won just two of his nine starts, and McCown posted just a 69.4 passer rating on the year.
Once again a free agent, the nomad QB found a home in Miami for 2008 season. At least he thought so. Before Week 1 of the regular season, he was traded to Carolina to back up Jake Delhomme. And back up Jake Delhomme he did. Over two seasons, McCown was limited to just six pass attempts and spent the bulk of 2009 on injured reserve. With seemingly no NFL suitors, McCown signed with the United Football League’s Hartford Colonials. Even though the Chicago Bears reached out to him following his signing with the Colonials, McCown honored his contract and utilized the opportunity to get more playing time and ended up posting the UFL’s top passer rating in 2010.
A return to the NFL was seemingly short-lived for Josh McCown after he was cut by San Francisco just prior to the start of the regular season. With little hope of playing in 2011, the Chicago Bears again reached out to McCown, in late November, as an emergency QB. He actually started the Bears’ final two games, leading Chicago to a victory in the season’s final game. While McCown made the Bears’ roster in 2012, a healthy Jay Cutler kept him off the field. However, Cutler wasn’t so fortunate in 2013 and his injuries enabled McCown to start five games. Josh McCown played pretty well too, winning three of five starts, notably a Week 14 win over Dallas in which he threw for 348 yards and scored five touchdowns. Cutler returned for the final three weeks of the season, but the Bears collapsed, losing their final two to finish 8-8 and missing out on the NFC North crown by a half-game.
With the Bears still committed to Jay Cutler, Josh McCown left the Windy City for Tampa Bay, signing a two-year deal to be new head coach Lovie Smith’s anointed starting quarterback in 2014. It didn’t go well at all. McCown found the opposing defenses’ hands just as many times he found the end zone (14) and the Buccaneers finished 2-14, with a 1-10 mark in their new signal caller’s starts. With the worst record in the NFL, Tampa Bay moved on from Josh McCown and drafted Florida State star passer Jameis Winston with the #1 overall pick.
New year, new stop for Josh McCown. And in 2015 the 36-year old vet found himself in Cleveland. Battling through a Week 1 concussion, McCown started seven of the season’s first eight games and was fantastic. From Weeks 3-5, he averaged 385 passing yards per game and scored seven TDs to a solitary pick. And yet the Browns were still the Browns, in the midst of a 17-year streak without a playoff appearance. By the time a late-season broken collarbone had resulted in McCown’s placement on injured reserve, Cleveland was on their way to a pitiful 3-13 campaign. They went just 1-7 in Josh McCown’s starts in spite of his very respectable 93.3 QB rating. The following year, he battled injury and offseason acquisition Robert Griffin III to make just three starts, all losses, for the Browns.
Signed by the Jets in the offseason, Josh McCown played solidly for a mediocre New York AFC team, surpassing a 100.0 passer rating in eight of 13 starts and scoring 23 touchdowns to only nine interceptions. Yet once again, the nomad QB couldn’t escape injury, suffering a season-ending broken hand in mid-December. It was little consolation that the Jets were out of the playoff picture at 5-8 at that point. And without their first-year field general, they finished their season with three losses. Primarily backing up rookie signal caller Sam Darnold in 2018, McCown made three starts, all losses.
With his career seemingly over, Josh McCown threw only five regular season passes for Philadelphia in 2019. Then in the Wild Card round against Seattle, Eagles starter Carson Wentz went down for the game with a first quarter concussion. The 40-year old McCown, he of 18 pro seasons, stepped in for his first ever NFL postseason appearance. While he didn’t play poorly (18-for-24, 197 yards of offense, no TDs, no turnovers), it wasn’t enough to rally the troops as Philly was dismissed from the postseason, 17-9. He was acquired by the Houston Texans in November of the following year as a practice squad player, but saw no playing time.
Josh McCown’s experience and leadership enabled him to play in the NFL for nearly 20 years. Over that time, he found himself on 12 different rosters (not even counting the UFL’s Hartford Colonials) and other than his first four seasons in Arizona, never spent more than three years with one franchise. He made double-digit starts in a season only three times, and was often replaced by highly-touted draft picks (i.e. Matt Leinart, Jameis Winston, and Sam Darnold). And yet he always found another team to give him a chance, whether as a back-up or as a starter. He even outlasted younger brother Luke McCown, who made NFL rosters over 14 years himself. Josh McCown was never anywhere long enough to make an indelible imprint with any single franchise, but the value he provided his teams as an experienced signal caller far exceeded the statistics he compiled over two decades.
Chart
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | -0.158 | -0.029 | -0.065 | 0.086 | -0.033 | -0.015 | -0.131 | -0.091 |
| Playoffs | -0.400 | -0.254 | -1.000 | -0.311 | -0.107 | 0.229 | -1.000 | 1.000 |
Longevity Bonus = 0.0 Title Bonus = 0.0
Index Score = -3.016 (average QB = 0.0)
Deviation Rank (out of 155)
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 153rd | 86th | 103rd | 88th | 128th | 112th | 136th | 128th |
| Playoffs | T-130th | 136th | 132nd | 101st | 126th | 111th | 122nd | 137th |
Why isn’t he on the Top 100 list?
In six of eight regular season categories, Josh McCown falls outside the Top 100, and in the other two he’s #86 and #88. The biggest thing is his win-loss ratio. Stuck on some pretty bad teams, McCown only won 23 of 76 career starts. He’s also in the Bottom 20 for TD rate at a career 3.7%. McCown also failed to make a significant mark in his lone playoff appearance.
But what made him good?
Other than that he played pro football for nearly 20 years? Josh McCown places a respectable 88th all-time in fewest turnovers per game, around the middle of the pack for all quarterbacks studied. His total yards per game deviation was also fairly average, and that places him at 86th all time. And from an intangibles standpoint, major respect that there was always an NFL team that could use McCown’s services.
The Quarterback Project 