Detmer healed enough to play in the final games of 2002, but head coach Andy Reid decided to stay with Feeley, who was having success.

Prior to the 2006 season, Detmer was released after the Eagles brought back A. J. Feeley and signed former Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Garcia as the backups.

He was re-signed on January 2, 2007, by the Eagles to provide a third quarterback for the team's playoff push, with Donovan McNabb out with injury.

The Vikings needed a second quarterback behind Brooks Bollinger while Tarvaris Jackson and Kelly Holcomb recovered from injuries.

[10] The speculative fiction work 17776 mentions a scavenger hunt played in the far future in which players try to find every football autographed by Detmer.

[11] It assumes that Detmer signed a total of 43 footballs throughout his career, poking fun that it would be far fewer than his brother, Ty.