Quarterback

[8] One of the major contributing factors behind the success and longevity of the New England Patriots' Brady–Belichick era was the willingness of starting quarterback Tom Brady to consistently take pay cuts despite his elite performance,[9] which allowed the Patriots to spend that money elsewhere on additional skill players, with a famous example of this being the signing of Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss in 2007.

[16] In general, quarterbacks need to have physical skills such as arm strength, mobility and a quick throwing motion, in addition to intangibles such as competitiveness, leadership, intelligence and downfield vision.

In the NFL, while the starting quarterback has no other responsibility or authority, they may, depending on the league or individual team, have various informal duties, such as participation in pre-game ceremonies, the coin toss or other events outside the game.

[33][34] Similarly, Patrick Mahomes was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs to eventually supplant Alex Smith, with the latter willingly serving as a mentor.

[41] As Roger Staubach's backup, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Danny White was also the team's punter, opening strategic possibilities for coach Tom Landry.

Ascending to the starting role upon Staubach's retirement, White held his position as the team's punter for several seasons—a double duty he performed to All-American standard at Arizona State University.

For example, if a team is down by a field goal with only seconds remaining, a quarterback may spike the ball to prevent the game clock from running out.

For instance, the Seattle Seahawks' Pete Carroll used the preseason games in 2012 to select Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback over Matt Flynn and Tarvaris Jackson.

[47] In a game against the Chicago Bears in week 7 of the 1971 season, Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry alternated Roger Staubach and Craig Morton on each play, sending in the quarterbacks with the playcall from the sideline.

In Canadian football, quarterback sneaks or other runs in short-yardage situations tend to be successful as a result of the distance between the offensive and defensive lines being one yard.

Drew Tate, a quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders, was primarily used in short-yardage situations and led the CFL in rushing touchdowns during the 2014 season with 10 scores as the backup to Bo Levi Mitchell.

As recently as 2020, Oregon, who had two quarterbacks capable of starting (Boston College transfer Anthony Brown and sophomore Tyler Shough), utilized a similar tactic in the 2020 Pac-12 Football Championship Game, giving Shough the start but inserting the dual-threat Brown on short-yardage plays, red zone situations and the final drive of the game.

[52] The quarterback position dates to the late 1800s, when American Ivy League schools playing a form of rugby union imported from the United Kingdom began to put their own spin on the game.

[55] Walter Camp, a prominent athlete and rugby player at Yale University, pushed through a change in rules at a meeting in 1880 that established a line of scrimmage and allowed for the football to be snapped to a quarterback.

[56] Several years later, Amos Alonzo Stagg at the University of Chicago invented the lift-up snap: the center passed the ball off the ground and between his legs to a standing quarterback.

[58] At first, the captains of college teams were put in charge of play calling, indicating with shouted codes which players would run with the ball and how the men on the line were supposed to block.

[60] He served largely as a blocking back; the tailback typically took the snap, either running forward with the ball or making a lateral pass to one of the other players in the backfield.

[62] Despite these constraints, player-coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers, along with several other NFL figures of his era, was a consistent proponent of the forward pass.

[66] The rule requiring a quarterback/tailback to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage to pass was abolished,[67] and hash marks were added to the field that established a limited zone between which the ball was placed before snaps, making offensive formations more flexible.

[67] In 1939, University of Chicago head football coach Clark Shaughnessy made modifications to the T-formation, a formation that put the quarterback behind the center and had him receive the snap directly.

[67] These changes were picked up by Chicago Bears coach George Halas, a close friend of Shaughnessy, and they quickly caught on in the professional ranks.

[67] Utilizing the T-formation and led by quarterback Sid Luckman, the Bears reached the NFL championship game in 1940 and beat the Redskins by a score of 73–0.

[67] The blowout led other teams across the league to adopt variations on the T-formation, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Rams and Detroit Lions.

[67] The Cleveland Browns of the late 1940s in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), a professional league created to challenge the NFL, were one of the teams of that era that relied most on passing.

[72] Passing in wide-open offenses has also been an emphasis at the high school and college levels, and professional coaches have devised schemes to fit the talents of new generations of quarterbacks.

Peyton Manning, formerly of the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, was the best modern example of a quarterback who called his own plays, primary using an uptempo, no-huddle-based attack.

Former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco retained a high degree of control over the offense as well, particularly when running a no-huddle scheme, as did Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The New York Giants became the last team to field a black starting QB during an NFL season when Geno Smith filled in for Eli Manning in 2017.

[75] Since the inception of the game, only four quarterbacks with known black ancestry have led their team to a Super Bowl victory: Doug Williams in 1988, Russell Wilson, who is multiracial, in 2014, Patrick Mahomes (biracial) in 2020, 2023, and 2024 and Jalen Hurts in 2025.

Quarterbacks with known black ancestry have also won the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award in recent years, including Cam Newton, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson.