Every so often, there is a play in football where all conventional knowledge seems to go out the window. The quarterback snaps the ball and either throws a screen or hands it off. Instead of running with the ball, the ball carrier squares up and launches the football 30 yards down the field. The announcers are screaming into their headsets about how the man who just threw the ball played quarterback in high school.
Watching position players attempt to sling the rock is one of the great joys of being a football fan. But who is the best to do it? Tom Brady might be considered the greatest player to ever throw the ball, but he was a quarterback. So the question becomes: Which non-quarterback is truly the best quarterback?
The person who is being paid to throw the football, almost always the quarterback, contributes the most to the aerial attack. Yet there are many instances where that is not the case. Most of the time, when a non-quarterback attempts a pass, it’s usually a trick play. Fake punts and flea-flickers are both notable examples of trick plays and some players have mounted incredibly impressive stat lines based off of these tricks. Tricks are still tricks, however and few players positional passers have been able to truly consistent stat lines.
It’s no surprise that, since the 1970s, there haven’t been a whole lot of non-quarterbacks throwing the football. In fact, only two have actually thrown for more than 300 yards: running back Walter Payton (331) and wide receiver Antwaan Randle El (323). However, both Randle El and running back Marcus Allen, who ranks third in non-quarterback yards since 1970, were well-respected quarterbacks before the NFL, with Randle El playing the position collegiately at Indiana.
In the race for the best, there are only a few names that can truly be in contention
| CP% | TDS | INTS | YARDS | |
| Antwaan Randle El | 81% | 6 | 0 | 323 |
| LaDainian Tomlinson | 67% | 7 | 0 | 143 |
| Marcus Allen | 44% | 6 | 1 | 282 |
Legend: (CP%, Completion Percentage; TDS, Touchdowns; INTS, Interceptions)
Although Payton holds the record for most yards and touchdowns thrown by a non-quarterback, he has also thrown six interceptions and couldn’t complete a third of his passes. Payton’s feat is impressive, nonetheless, but just not quite the best.
The final three all have very legitimate cases for being the best. Tomlinson has the most touchdowns without a pick of the group, while Randle El has the most yards, and Allen was playing in the least pass-friendly era and still managed to put up more yards than Tomlinson.
At the end of the day, however, I believe Randle El to be the best due to his impressive completion percentage and going without a pick on his passing 27 attempts. It is also worth mentioning that Randle El had more than twice the number of attempts as Tomlinson, and only one of Tomlinson’s completed passes didn’t end up as a touchdown. Allen and Randle El had the same amount of passing attempts and ended up with similar yardage despite Allen’s poor completion percentage. However, an 81% completion percentage on 27 attempts is no small feat. Very few players reach that many attempts without throwing an interception, and Antwaan Randle El did.
