Top 50 NFL Quarterbacks: #36

Rich Gannon

It is quite common for a quarterback to need a few years before hitting his stride and beginning to really contribute to a team, but Rich Gannon took that to the extreme. It wasn't until his 12th season, in which he was 34 years old, that Gannon finally became a quarterback worth noticing, but his next 4 seasons were absolutely great.

Gannon was a true journeyman by the time he reached Oakland in 1999. He was drafted by New England, traded to Minnesota, then Washington, then signed with Kansas City before arriving in northern California. He had never been a full-time starter when he got there, but he was a perfect fit in Oakland's system, and he led them to some of the best days the Raiders had seen in a while.

In 1999 he reached the top 10 in passing yards and #4 in touchdowns, with 3840 and 24, but the Raiders finished one game outside the playoffs. The numbers were by far his career highs at the time, and he was finally cemented into a starting job.

The following year his numbers were equally impressive, 3430 yards and 28 touchdowns, but he also led the Raiders to their best record in a decade, at 12-4. They even won their first playoff game 27-0, which advanced them to the AFC Championship Game, which they lost to Baltimore. It was pretty impressive for a team that hadn't even made the playoffs in 7 years.

His stats in 2001 were very similar to the previous two seasons, except that he increased his accuracy, connecting on 65.8% of his throws, up from 60.0% the previous year. They made the playoffs again, only to lose to the eventual champion Patriots in the divisional round.

After three very strong years he broke through and had an amazing season, winning the league MVP award with a league-leading 4689 yards, along with 26 touchdowns and a 67.6% completion percentage. Oakland won their division for the third straight year, and this time he took them even farther, getting clear to Super Bowl XXXVII, where they met the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He turned in an uncharacteristically poor performance in the Super Bowl, finishing with only 272 yards and 2 touchdowns, but 5 interceptions, 3 of which were returned for touchdowns. Many have blamed this on the fact that Tampa's new coach was Jon Gruden, who had been coaching the Raiders and Gannon the previous season. Oakland's new coach had not changed any of the team's plays or audibles, despite the fact that Coach Gruden still knew them.

Gannon played two more seasons for Oakland, but was injured more often than he was healthy, and he retired in 2005 at age 39. He may not have won a Super Bowl, and he also had a relatively short period of success as a starter, but he did more during those 4 years than any of the QB's ranked below him on this list.