He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini, where he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and was selected first overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1990 NFL draft.
A member of seven NFL teams during his career, George helped the 1995 Atlanta Falcons and the 1999 Minnesota Vikings reach the playoffs and led the league in passing yards in 1997 with the Oakland Raiders.
Burtnett's replacement was Fred Akers, who had been known for his teams that used a run-heavy option type offense that required a more mobile quarterback.
George subsequently committed to the University of Miami, but he backed out when coach Jimmy Johnson would not guarantee him a starting job.
Before the 1993 season, he refused to report to training camp and only returned to the team when Jim Irsay made it clear that George would have to pay a huge penalty fee for breach of contract if he did not get back to work.
On September 22, 1996, in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, George got into a heated argument on the sidelines with Falcons coach June Jones, all of which was caught on camera for a national television audience.
It was later confirmed that George blamed team management for his problems and felt Jones betrayed him by not standing up to this alleged mistreatment.
The Oilers, in their first home game since their controversial relocation from Houston, ruined George's debut (he threw three touchdowns to Tim Brown) by beating the Raiders, 24–21, on an Al Del Greco field goal in overtime.
A notable moment for the Silver and Black came in Week 8; against the visiting Broncos, George delivered a workmanlike performance (9–12, 96 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT).
Thanks in large part to Napoleon Kaufman's 227-yard performance on the ground, the host Raiders upset the eventual Super Bowl champions, 28–25.
Minnesota wanted George to return in 2000 but the combination of him delaying contract talks and the team's confidence that Daunte Culpepper could take over at QB led the Vikings to cut ties with him.
After attempting to speak to other teams about securing a starting quarterback job, he was eventually offered a one-year, $400,000 contract by Minnesota, with incentives of up to $1.4 million.
George replaced him and started two games, both losses, after Norv Turner was fired in favor of interim coach Terry Robiskie.
Before the 2001 season, Washington hired as head coach Marty Schottenheimer, who promised to install a West Coast scheme similar to that of Gruden in Oakland.
George spent time on the roster of the Seattle Seahawks in late 2002 as an emergency quarterback and the Chicago Bears in the 2004, but never took the field.