Louisville Football Quarterbacks In NFL [By Year]

NFL has seen many Louisville QB like Johnny Unitas, Tom LaFramboise, Benny Russell, John Madeys, Dean May, and Browning Nagle. They were active between 1955 to 2000. 

There are other players on the list who were later proved to be important names in the roster of the teams they were associated with. Let’s look at what the aforementioned players achieved in their careers. 

Johnny Unitas

Unitas was born on 7 May 1933 in Pittsburgh and attended St. Justin’s High School where he played his high school football as a halfback and quarterback.

With high hopes of playing for Notre Dame Fighting Irish one day, he tried to get to the University but coach Frank Leahy refused to take him commenting on his skinny look.

So the player rather join the University and play his college football with the Cardinals. He finished his collegiate career completing 245 passes for 3,139 yards and 27 TDs. 

He was drafted by the Steelers in the ninth round in the 1955 NFL Draft. In total in his professional career with the three-team, he completed 2,830 passes for 5,186 attempts 40,239 passing yards, and 290 touchdowns as well as 253 interceptions. 

Browning Nagle

Nagle went to attend Pinellas Park High School and graduated in 1986 before going to play for West Virginia in the beginning. He was born on 29 April 1968.

The player went to join West Virginia to play his college football along with Major Harris. But seeing that the university would go with Harris, he got himself transferred to play football for the Cardinals. 

While in the university he was named the Most Valuable Player in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the 1991 Draft and remained with the team until 1993.

The QB then moved to the Indianapolis Colts in 1994, and Atlanta Falcons from 1995 to 1996. He later went to play in the AFL joining Orlando Predators. 

Best Louisville quarterbacks cover Dave Ragone, Chris Redman, Teddy Bridgewater, Brian Broham, and Lamar Jackson. All of them played in the NFL.

They have performed exceptionally well at their college level and maintained good records with the teams they played for in the National Football League.

Teddy Bridgewater

Bridgewater joined the University as a backup quarterback to Will Stein but started in the team’s fourth game played against Marshall and remained the starter for the rest of the year.

As a freshman, he was named Big East Rookie of the Year as he completed 191 passes for 2,129 yards and 14 touchdowns. He played three seasons for the Cardinals and completed 781 passes in 1,142 attempts for 9,817 yards with 72 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. 

Teddy was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2014 Draft in the first round as the 32nd pick overall. He was placed behind the legendary Matt Cassel in his first season. 

The player made his professional debut in a match against the New Orleans Saints on 21 September 2014. After that, he started for the rest of the season. 

The QB played in the League associating with five teams including the New Orleans Saints, Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, and Miami Dolphins. 

Throughout his professional career, Bridgewater completed 1,372 passes in 2,067 attempts made for 15,120 passing yards, 75 touchdowns, and 47 interceptions. 

He was the first rookie player to complete 70% of four straight games passing attempts. His franchise record read most wins in a season by starting rookie QB, Highest single-season rookie passer rating, most completions in a game by a rookie, etc. 

Chris Redman

Redman was born on 7 July 1997 and  Louisville Male High School to play high school football and led the team to the 1993 state championship.

Chris joined the University in 1995 and played his college football for the Cardinals under head coach Ron Cooper. In NCAA Division I-A football, the player attempted 1,679 passes and completed 1,031 of them. He passed for 12,541 yards, 84 passing touchdowns, and 51 interceptions. 

His passing yard was ranked third among others in college football. The QB went to take part in the 2000 Draft and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round as the 75th overall pick.

Redman’s professional career did not see much of the score in the record. He was somehow associated with the four teams in the League consisting of the New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and Atlanta Falcons. 

In his NFL debut on the team’s week 12 match on 2 December 2007 against the St. Louis Rams, he threw for 172 yards and completed 16 passes from 24 attempts. 

Brian Brohm

Brohm is among the top QBs of the Cardinals football team and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 2008 NFL Draft in the second round. 

Brian played college football for four seasons with the Cardinals appearing in 43 games in total. The pro athlete passed for 10,775 yards with 71 touchdowns and 24 interceptions to complete 780 passes from 1,185 attempts made. 

In his professional football journey, he played in the League for only two teams, the Packers and the Bills. Among his three seasons in the League, he spent two of them with the Bills.

Brohm’s NFL career stats read 27 pass completions from 59 attempts made. The player passed for 252 yards and did not score a single touchdown but five interceptions. 

The athlete did not appear in a single game for the Packers. He later went on to participate in UFL and CFL after completely ending his career in the National Football League. 

Louisville Heisman trophy winners consist of Lamar Jackson who is the only player to receive the award in the history of the university. 

No other players from the Cardinals football team have reached that perfection before and after Jackson until now making him the only athlete to graduate with that title.

2016 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback From Louisville

Lamar Jackson was the Heisman Trophy-winning QB from the University in 2016. He was the 82nd player to be awarded that trophy on 10 December. 

Jackson was in his Sophomore year when he was honored with the most prestigious award in college football. That season he completed 230 passes from 409 attempts. The excellent QB passed for 3,543 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. 

His trophy-winning season has some memorable events to note down. In his first game of his Sophomore year against the Charlotte 49ers, Jackson recorded eight touchdowns, all of them in the first half. 

The game that contributed to making him the Heisman Trophy front-runner was their match against number 2 Florida State where he completed 13 passes from 20 attempts for 126 yards and scored four touchdowns in the first half. 

Lamar’s three-year collegiate statistics read 9,043 passing yards for completing 619 passes from 1,086 attempts. The player went for 69 touchdowns and 27 interceptions in total. 

The pro athlete was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 NFL Draft in the first round as the 32nd overall pick. In his professional career to date during the regular season, Jackson has passed for 12,817 yards with 103 touchdowns and 39 interceptions. 

Louisville football starting QB is Jack Plummer for the 2023 season. Brock Domann, Harrison Bailey, Evan Conley, and Perce Clarkson are in the backup role. 

Plummer is playing his first year in the team but it is his final year of eligibility in collegiate football. Having already played for Purdue University and California, he has spent four years at college football and is currently in the fifth. 

Jack’s first starting quarterback role at the college-level game was in the match against TCU on 14 September 2019 where he completed 13 passes out of 19 passing attempts for 181 yards.

In the past four seasons, Jackson has completed 601 passes from 943 passing attempts for 6,524 yards, 47 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. 

He was born on 21 October 1999 and played his high school football at Gilbert High School. There, Plummer completing 515 passes from 888 attempts for 6,913 yards scoring 69 TDs and 25 interceptions.