The 10 best quarterbacks in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars

Since entering the NFL with a 10-3 loss to the Houston Oilers on Sept. 3, 1995, that featured Steve Beuerlein completing just seven of his 17 passes for 54 yards before heading to the pine, the Jacksonville Jaguars have trotted out a stable of quarterbacks who often fall into the good-not-great category.

They've had stars, sure.

One, Mark Brunell, became the first truly notable standout in franchise history. Another, Trevor Lawrence, has gotten off to a mercurial start to his professional career but still carries plenty of promise. Bookended between them, though, fall myriad signal-callers who provided the Duval faithful with memorable moments of both the good and bad varieties.

It's our job to put the 10 leading options into the perfect, definitive, not-at-all-debatable order.

Criteria for selection

The top quarterbacks in Jaguars history won't just be ranked by traditional metrics (passing yards, completion percentage, touchdowns, quarterback rating, etc.), though the order certainly draws inspiration from those statistics. After all, the top players received opportunities to line up under center during meaningful action and therefore had chances to accrue significant box-score metrics.

Perception matters. Earned awards factor into the equation. So, too, does a player's enduring reputation among the fanbase.

Byron Leftwich earned a boost through his unrelenting toughness, even if that gut-it-out mentality is impossible to quantify. Brunell gets extra credit for his postseason prowess. Lawrence's sheer ability matters, even if he's still in the process of adding to his legacy.

In short, we're looking at the totality of a career from all angles and ranking these quarterbacks by their talent, their production, and the overall value they provided to the franchise.

The top 10 quarterbacks in Jacksonville Jaguars history

10. Nick Foles

Oh, what could have been. 

Nick Foles entered Jacksonville on the heels of his second stint with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he came bearing plenty of promise, complete with a four-year contract that could pay up to $102 million. Unfortunately, less than a single quarter of meaningful action elapsed before that promise evaporated. 

Helming a team that had won just five games during the 2018 season, Foles got off to a torrid start against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 of the 2019 campaign, completing five of his eight passes for 75 yards and a touchdown — a 35-yard strike to DJ Chark Jr. that dropped right into the breadbasket in the back-right corner of the end zone. 

But that pass proved Pyrrhic. Foles took a shot from defensive lineman Chris Jones while uncorking the deep ball and, much to the chagrin of optimistic supporters, exited the contest with a broken collarbone. 

When he returned against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11, he struggled to move the Jacksonville offense down the field and found himself riding the pine two weeks later, permanently replaced by Gardner Minshew II. The totality of his Jaguars tenure, which ended with a trade to the Chicago Bears for a compensatory fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft after he'd made just four starts and thrown three touchdown passes, fell quite a bit shy of the initial excitement.

9. Quinn Gray

Quinn Gray only started four games for the Jaguars and posted a 2-2 mark as the quarterback of record after taking over for an injured David Garrard at various points throughout the 2007 season. His most notable outing closed that campaign, though his 302 yards and four touchdowns on 25-for-39 passing lost some of their luster due to both the outcome (a 42-28 loss) and the opponent (an 8-8 Houston Texans squad that finished the year with the 25th-ranked passing defense).

Otherwise, Gray was merely a backup.

He signed with the Jags as an undrafted free agent in 2002, bounced between waivers and the practice squad before making his first appearance in 2005 (14 passes in relief of Garrard), and remained with the organization until the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts both signed and released him before the start of the 2008 season. The Kansas City Chiefs, needing quarterback depth after injuries to Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard, then signed Gray and trotted him out during a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 11 — his last appearance.

Gray never did anything particularly notable in the NFL, logging 12 touchdown passes and five interceptions on a 56.1% completion rate with Jacksonville. However, his years spent as a steady backup have to carry some weight for a relatively young franchise with only a (potentially hyperbolic) handful of true successes under center.

8. Blaine Gabbert

What happens when you mix together a protoypical frame, a howitzer of a right arm, some questionable ability to process an NFL defense, and a franchise stuck on the mediocrity treadmill that has often possessed dysfunctional tendencies?

Well, allow us to introduce you to Mr. Blaine Williamson Gabbert.

With a 6-foot-4, 233-pound frame and a set of collegiate accolades that allowed him to depart Missouri as the No. 10 overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, Gabbert looked the part of a superstar quarterback each and every time he strode down the sidelines or warmed up prior to a meaningful contest. And then he'd put on his helmet, and the ugly truth would emerge.

Gabbert, done no favors by a woeful roster, the added expectations of an aggressive draft slot, or a compounding list of injuries, simply didn't have it. He played like he was scared to take hits, rarely showed pocket presence, sprayed his sporadic downfield throws, and played shockingly conservative football that did little to showcase the cannon affixed to his right shoulder.

Sheer volume earns him a spot within the top 10, and to his credit, he went on to play another decade of NFL football after his three-year Jacksonville stint ended with a trade to the San Francisco 49ers that brought back just a sixth-round pick. But with a 5-22 record, 51 touchdowns to 50 interceptions, and precious few pleasant memories in black and teal, he can't rise any higher.

7. Chad Henne

Chad Henne rarely won games by himself, but he also rarely lost them. Considering his role as a backup to Blaine Gabbert and stopgap starter before the Blake Bortles era began in earnest, that meant he did his limited job rather well.

Over five seasons with the Jaguars, Henne appeared in 31 contests (22 starts) and compiled a 5-17 record while completing 57.6% of his passes for 5,817 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. He managed games, and that was that.

Except, of course, near the onset of his Duval career.

With the Jags, Henne only threw more than two touchdown passes in a game once (and also had just two contests with more than a pair of picks), but the one exception made history despite coming in a 43-37 loss.

Against the Houston Texans on Nov. 18, 2012, Henne replaced an injured Blaine Gabbert and exploded for 354 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback since Steve Young to come off the bench with a quartet of scoring tosses and nary an interception. He regressed to his established baseline shortly thereafter and continued his lengthy career as a second-string quarterback capable of getting the job done when briefly handed the reins.

6. Gardner Minshew II

The cult of personality surrounding Gardner Minshew II created a larger-than-life figure who generated one wild story after another, ranging from the jorts to his mustache to his hand-breaking attempts to just about everything else. The outlandish nature of the undrafted Washington State product's rise to prominence sparked Minshew Mania and added further fuel to the excitement in Jacksonville during the 2019 season.

"That's one reason why wearing a mustache and things like that are OK, because he doesn’t let it get to him," then-Jaguars wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. said during Minshew's out-of-nowhere rookie effort, per Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. "He just likes to play football. You can't ask much more of him than that."

Minshew the Icon was, however, more notable than Minshew the Quarterback.

Though he posted great surface-level numbers in 2019 after taking over for an injured Nick Foles (3,271 yards, 21 touchdowns, six interceptions), he benefitted tremendously from after-the-catch efforts and big stats posted in games already out of reach on a 6-10 outfit.

He held his own again in the follow-up campaign before the Jaguars traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles for a sixth-round pick, bringing to a close a two-year stretch that produced plenty of enjoyment, moderate levels of excitement, and only seven victories.

5. Blake Bortles

Being a Jaguars fan during Blake Bortles' tenure meant you were doomed to a pre-death stay in the Bad Place. Except in 2017. Jacksonville will always have 2017, though the fanbase could enjoy even fonder memories had Myles Jack not been erroneously ruled down.

But the success of that 2017 squad — 10-6 before gutting out a 10-3 win over the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round and surviving a 45-42 shootout with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional Round — makes the rest of Bortles' time taking snaps that much more painful. (And for the record, no further mentions of the painful loss to the New England Patriots in the ensuing AFC Championship Game will take place.)

When the Central Florida product figured things out, the Jaguars hummed. Bortles had enough speed and physicality to emerge as a pseudo-dual-threat option, and the strength of his arm allowed him to complete passes all over the field. Able to reduce the bad decisions in 2017, he put together one of the better single seasons in franchise history: 3,687 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, and 13 interceptions while adding 322 yards and two more scores on the ground.

Throughout the rest of his time in Jacksonville, he floundered. When he wasn't holding onto the pigskin long enough to juice the opposition's sack totals, he was tossing it into triple coverage and generating completions to the wrong team. He led the NFL in sacks taken during each of his first two campaigns, paced the league in interceptions once, and generally struggled to avoid mistakes that negated the highlight-reel moments and burgeoning feelings of optimism.

Bortles' exploits left an indelible mark on the franchise's record books — No. 2 in career passing yards and passing touchdowns — but don't mistake opportunity for excellence.

4. Trevor Lawrence

If you can provide a quick summation of Trevor Lawrence's first three years in the NFL, congratulations on doing the impossible. Your next set of tasks includes helping Sisyphus get the boulder to the top of the hill, tickling yourself, and putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Lawrence's level of talent since joining Jacksonville as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft is beyond reproach. But due to a wide variety of circumstances, the first three years of his tenure have included more than a few bumps.

Enough stalling. Let's do the impossible:

• 2021: Lawrence led the NFL in interceptions as a rookie while winning three games under the disastrous supervision of Urban Meyer.
• 2022: Lawrence looked like the league's next great quarterback, finishing seventh in AP MVP voting behind 25 touchdowns and just eight picks.
• 2023: Lawrence picked up where he left off and guided the Jaguars to an 8-3 record before suffering an ankle injury that sent everything spiraling downward. A miserable second half left Jacksonville at 9-8 and outside the playoff picture.

Lawrence is still recovering from the damage done by his kicker-kicking former coach. He had to play through injuries during the tail end of the 2023 campaign, which swung the narrative distinctly in the negative direction. HIs receivers have often decided to do their best handless-mannequin impressions — and that's when they don't just give up on routes. He's had to play from behind against countless tough opponents.

The jury is still out on Lawrence's career, which should go without saying for a 24-year-old but needs to be repeated ad nauseam in the hot-take era of sports coverage. He could easily go the route of other talented Jacksonville quarterbacks and fail to rise above the organizational struggles, but he could just as easily replicate his 2022 efforts and skyrocket up these rankings at a moment's notice.

3. Byron Leftwich

By the time you're finished reading this section, Byron Leftwich will likely be nearing the completion of his elongated throwing motion.

But while his inability to release the ball quickly sometimes affected his throws into tight windows and led to plenty of sacks he'd otherwise have avoided, it drew too much focus during his playing career. Did it need to be mentioned during every single broadcast and any and all conversations about the Jacksonville signal-caller, to the point of ubiquity? Probably not.

Still, Leftwich became synonymous with the drop-the-ball-to-the-hips motion while constantly validating the reputation for toughness he'd first earned while playing with a fractured left tibia during the end of his collegiate career at Marshall. He gutted out starts amid ankle injuries, gritted it out after taking brutal shots in the pocket, and played with a level of defiance that endeared him to the Jaguars faithful even if he sprayed a few more throws than would've been ideal.

The seventh overall pick of the 2003 NFL Draft first stepped into the starting lineup after relieving an injured Mark Brunell early in his rookie campaign. He spent the next three years and change as the leading option under center in Jacksonville before departing for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 after losing the training-camp battle to David Garrard.

During that stretch, he went 24-20 as the quarterback of record (as many wins as Blake Bortles produced, though in 29 fewer appearances) while throwing for 9,042 yards, 51 touchdowns, and 36 picks. Only the players yet to come in these rankings tallied more fourth-quarter comebacks (seven) or game-winning drives (10), further validating Leftwich's never-say-die attitude and ability to grind out results in spite of tough circumstances.

2. David Garrard

David Garrard and Byron Leftwich feel inextricably intertwined in Jaguars history, and not just because the former essentially ended the latter's Jacksonville tenure by winning the starting job in training camp prior to the 2007 season. Because their stints came in back-to-back, slightly overlapping fashion and they had similar levels of ability, both on team-based and individual levels, they're hard to separate in the rankings, too.

Except Garrard played 40 more games for the Jaguars, the only franchise that ever let him step onto an NFL field after he exited East Carolina and became a fourth-round pick in 2002. He wasn't always the starter, sitting behind Leftwich and playing only when the entrenched option couldn't gut out an injury before winning the job for himself in 2007. Then he didn't relinquish the reins until the Jags drafted Blaine Gabbert in 2011 and made Garrard a salary-cap casualty.

Garrard certainly wasn't without his faults. He took too many sacks and frequently checked down unnecessarily rather than taking palatable risks down the field. But he was another true leader under center and did his darnedest to overcome the lackluster defenses with which he was saddled (during his time as the unquestioned starter from 2007-10, the Jags ranked 10th, 21st, 24th, and 27th in scoring defense).

Plus, his 2007 season outstrips Leftwich's best campaign (2005) by a rather significant margin.

Garrard didn't make the Pro Bowl that year, instead earning his lone appearance in 2009, but he completed 64% of his passes for 2,509 yards, 18 touchdowns, and three interceptions, earning a triple-digit quarterback rating (102.2) while guiding the Jaguars to an 11-5 record that ended with a loss to the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round.

1. Mark Brunell

Mark Brunell owns nearly every career record of significance in Jaguars franchise history.

No one is within 8,000 yards of the 25,698 he racked up in his career. His 144 passing touchdowns are more than 40 ahead of second-best. Only David Garrard (39) has won half as many as his 63 career victories. His 13 fourth-quarter comebacks and 17 game-winning drives lead the field. No Jaguars quarterback has matched his three Pro Bowl appearances.

So on and so forth.

And that's saying nothing of Brunell putting the entire franchise on the map after taking over for Steve Beuerlein two games into the inaugural season. Displaying both a Houdini-like ability to escape pervasive pressure that resulted from a struggling offensive line and precision touch with his southpaw delivery, he did what young quarterbacks aren't supposed to do for new franchises: win early and often.

Brunell led the NFL with 4,367 passing yards in his second season with the Jaguars, beginning a streak of four consecutive years in which he posted a winning record. Once he started dialing back the interceptions, the victories kept coming — even in the postseason.

He took down the John Elway-led Denver Broncos in the 1996 Divisional Round before falling to the New England Patriots in the AFC Conference Championship. Three years later, he ended Dan Marino's career in unceremonious fashion with a 62-7 Divisional Round drubbing of the Miami Dolphins.

All in all, he made the postseason four times and went a respectable 4-4 in his eight postseason outings, tallying 1,525 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. For perspective, the rest of the quarterbacks in Jaguars history have combined to match his 4-4 record while throwing for 1,936 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in their joint playoff careers.

Brunell isn't just the top quarterback in franchise history; the yawning chasm between him and everyone else is wide enough that no Jacksonville signal-caller has ever possessed the arm strength necessary to launch a football from one end to the other.

The 10 best quarterbacks in Jacksonville Jaguars history by passing yards