He was briefly on the rosters of the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL), but never saw regular season action.
[7] With his NFL career effectively over, Besana returned to California and played minor league ball for the Twin Cities Cougars, based in Marysville, of the California Football League from 1980–1982, while he sold insurance and was a partner in a beer distributorship.
Following the 1984 season the Invaders merged with the Michigan Panthers and Besana was forced to the bench backing up Hebert on the eventual Western Conference champions.
[9] The new team retained Jordan & Banks and added Michigan stars Albert Bentley, Anthony Carter, Derek Holloway, & John Williams.
Besana did see the field a few times in 1985 with this team full of weapons,[9] and he put up the third best QB rating in the league.