Donovan McNabb
Donovan McNabb started out as the #2 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, and ended up as the greatest black quarterback ever to play in the NFL. He played the majority of his career for the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that drafted him, and what he did for them earned him this spot.
He earned the starting job halfway through his rookie season, and while it wasn't a great season for him, it brought him good experience that led to him breaking out in just his second year. He threw for 3365 yards and 21 touchdowns that year and helped Philly to the playoffs, which was just another step in the right direction.
In 2001, year 3 of his career, he upped his touchdowns to 25 while reducing his interceptions to 12, and he blew through the first two rounds of the playoffs, earning a berth in the NFC title game. He played well in that game, but it wasn't enough to beat the Rams and Marshall Faulk's 2 touchdowns.
He broke his ankle in week 11 in 2002, but luckily they were still able to make the playoffs, and McNabb returned to lead the Eagles to a win in the divisional round, which got them back to the NFC title game, which they again lost, this time to Tampa Bay.
He had a bit of a down year in 2003, throwing only 16 touchdowns, but he was again good enough in the playoffs to get the Eagles to the NFC title game yet again, but this time they lost to the Carolina Panthers, falling just short of the Super Bowl again.
His best overall season came in 2004, when he set a new career high with 3875 yards, while nearly doubling his touchdowns to 31 with only 8 picks, earned the Eagles the #1 seed in the NFC for the second year in a row, and threw for 466 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first two playoff games without an interception to finally break through and reach the Super Bowl. He played pretty well in the Super Bowl, with 357 yards and 3 touchdowns, but his 3 interceptions doomed the Eagles.
His next two seasons ended prematurely due to injury, one to his groin and one to his ACL. The latter injury slowed him still in 2007, but he made a strong comeback in 2008. He finished that season with a new career high of 3916 yards and also had 23 touchdowns, which was amazing for a guy that most thought was finished after his ACL tear. Not only did he get Philly back to the playoffs, he again led them to the NFC title game, where they lost to Arizona.
The last few quarterbacks on this list had great 4-year runs, whether they had record-breaking seasons or consecutive seasons in the conference title game. McNabb falls into the latter category, with those 4 straight trips to the conference title game with a Super Bowl berth mixed in, but he surpasses them when you factor in his comeback season 4 years later, something the others failed to do. That is why McNabb is ranked this high among the all-time greats.
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