Michigan's Amazing NFL Quarterback String Comes to an End

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on September 21st, 2023 at 5:14 PM

Lost in the stories about the retirements of Tom Brady and Chad Henne last season is this fact: Michigan's amazing 36-season string of having a quarterback in the NFL came to an end.

Unless Chad Henne (or Dylan McCaffrey, Jake Rudock or hell, Tom Brady) sign with an NFL team this fall, this will be the first season since 1986 that there isn't a Michigan quarterback in the NFL. The string actually exists because of two people: Jim Harbaugh played from 1987 to 2000 and then Tom Brady played from 2000 to 2022. But there were a whole lot of other Michigan QBs in the league along the way, which meant that most years, there were two or more Wolverines playing QB in the league. Others who played along the way:

  • Elvis Grbac - 1994-2001
  • Todd Collins - 1995-2010 (damn, he played 16 seasons in the NFL and was only a full-time starter for one).
  • Brian Griese - 1998-2008
  • John Navarre - 2004-2005
  • Drew Henson - 2004, 2008
  • Chad Henne - 2008-2022
  • Ryan Mallett - 2012-2017
  • Jake Rudock - 2017
  • (Denard Robinson played in the NFL, too, but not as a quarterback.)

I'm not sure if any other schools have a longer streak going, but 36 years straight with a QB in the NFL is pretty freaking amazing. We'll obviously have JJ starting a new streak in a year (or hopefully two) and maybe Joe Milton, too. It's looking doubtful that Henne will come out of retirement to sign with the Jets, but I'm hoping he will just to keep our streak alive.

By the way, prior to Harbaugh, there were only two Michigan quarterbacks in the NFL. Bob Ptacek got a few snaps in 1959 and Larry Cipa played from 1971-73.

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FrankMurphy

September 21st, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^

There is no Michigan player who was more deserving than Devin Gardner of the success that he never got to experience. He had the talent, the body, the arm, the intelligence, and the work ethic to be an NFL quarterback. If he had competent coaching in college, he would have been a sure-fire draft pick.

Joined: 08/19/2008

MGoPoints: 31971

FrankMurphy

September 21st, 2023 at 5:51 PM ^

Oh for sure. But he did give the NFL a shot as a UFA. I don't know if he would have panned out had he been drafted, but the deck is heavily stacked against QBs who are UFAs. If he had played QB continuously under a single competent head coach and competent offensive coordinators instead of being shuffled between QB and WR and playing in two different systems under three different offensive coordinators (each one of whom was fired), his draft stock would probably have been a lot higher. His epic 2013 performances against ND, Indiana, and in The Game showed us what he was capable of.

I have never felt worse for a player in a non-injury situation than I did for DG when I saw him sprawled out on the turf on his back after he threw that INT on the would-be game-winning 2 pt conversion. Kid gave it everything he had and then some. And learning that he played that entire game on a broken foot made me feel even worse for him. He deserved to win that game more than anyone else.

Joined: 08/19/2008

MGoPoints: 31971

NeverPunt

September 21st, 2023 at 6:39 PM ^

Playing behind the offensive lines he had was a crime against humanity. If given the Michigan team of last year or prior, Devin could have been a high draft pick and preserved his physical integrity a lot longer than he was able to. That man was broken by the time he left here. Couldn’t be happier to see him having so much success in broadcasting now

Joined: 03/26/2019

MGoPoints: 41220

mabrsu

September 21st, 2023 at 7:30 PM ^

He definitely would have been a hot commodity in the transfer portal these days to get away from those OLs.  Whole world would have been different.  Glad these stories won’t happen as much now.

as tough as the current environment is, the market for these kids is way more “efficient” with a transfer portal.  You can escape a really bad situation and improve your draft stock in your senior year.

Joined: 07/10/2008

MGoPoints: 1293

Ernis

September 21st, 2023 at 9:40 PM ^

gods below, this entire sequence is emblazoned in my mind crystal clear... yet I had suppressed it until now. damn you all for dredging this back to the surface!

but thank you DG. the man put the entire game on his shoulders and almost pulled it off. you could feel his exhaustion at the end of that one. i wasn't even as upset about the loss as i should have been. it was like, ok, there, it's over. now we're dead. bit of a relief, really.

Joined: 09/23/2008

MGoPoints: 11480

Perkis-Size Me

September 21st, 2023 at 7:40 PM ^

Pick really any play, minus the final two point conversion try, in the 2013 OSU game. Played on a broken foot and shredded OSU's defense all by himself. Had they pulled that game off, it would've gone down as one of the greatest individual performances in the history of college football, and probably the greatest individual performance by any Michigan player, ever. I'm of the mind that it would've trumped anything Howard or Woodson did in an individual game because of the team and help Gardner had around him. Or should I say, lack thereof. Gardner truly had to do it all by himself. With a coaching staff that didn't know how to help him. And he almost beat the #3 team in the country by himself, on a broken foot. 

Instead, the play-call isn't changed so OSU knows exactly what's coming and where to be. Coaching staff fails Gardner, and the only thing anyone outside of Michigan fandom will ever know or care to know about that game is "Michigan lost." 

My personal favorite may be him juking Bradley Roby to pick up that first down late in the game. Again, a man with a broken foot should not be able to do the things he did that day. 

He deserved to be carried off the field that day for the performance he put on. 

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105760

crg

September 21st, 2023 at 5:24 PM ^

Two words:  Michael. Barrett.

Actually anyone who slung a ball for UM should count:  Cade McNamara, Joe Milton, Shea Patterson, Donovan Edwards, Kalel Mullings, whoever.

It may be by the slightest technicality, but it still counts (just like our sellout streak).

Edit - Loopholes Found:

Current NFL players with UM passing stats:  Ronnie Bell, Hasan Haskins, Jabrill Peppers

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

Grampy

September 21st, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^

I always wondered how Ricky Leach would have done in the pros. He was tough, smart, and while on the smaller side by today’s standards, he would have fit in the NFL of 1978. With some developmental of his passing game, he’d have been good, too. 
 

[edit]  He would have made the streak longer by 8 years. 

Joined: 06/29/2012

MGoPoints: 24146

evenyoubrutus

September 21st, 2023 at 5:38 PM ^

Brian's description of Henne the Michigan QB is Hall of Fame writing.

I first thought "Chad Henne is a robot" a long time ago.

It was the middle of 2004. A then-freshman Henne strode onto the turf at Michigan Stadium facing a four point deficit against Minnesota. The ball was on the Michigan thirteen; the clock read 3:04.

Five plays and 56 yards later, Henne zeroed in on Z45 Part A Subsequence C Tight End Tyler Ecker, Rabbit-Hunting Mormon, crossing in front of a Minnesota linebacker; various servos and hydraulics kicked in. Henne flung a pass into Z45PASCTETERHM's outstretched arms, declared GOAL COMPLETED, and initiated nailcoeds.exe.

This weekend, now-senior Chad Henne strode onto the turf at Spartan Stadium facing a ten point deficit. He was 6 for 19 for 83 yards at that point, 47 of which came on a single bomb to Mario Manningham. The clock read 7:35.

...

On the last two drives he was 12-14 for 129 yards, flinging wide open outs, finding Mathews on a critical third and long, and looping perfect touchdown passes to Greg Mathews and Mario Manningham. He was ruthless, precise, and busy calculating digits of pi deep into the millions. He has a heart of nails and lungs made from old tires; his hair consists of pipe cleaners cropped short and his bones are discarded pipes. You have to whack him in just the right spot at just the right time to get his late-model Soviet guidance chip to seat itself in his shoddy southeast Asian motherboard.

https://mgoblog.com/content/nails

Joined: 11/04/2008

MGoPoints: 178243

chrs5mr

September 21st, 2023 at 5:42 PM ^

I wish Joe Milton luck but I'm not going to be like Sparty fans with Nick Foles and OSU fans with Joe Burrow in claiming him.

I don't claim Mallet (RIP) either.

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 735