odd careers in the 21st century

[sheajets]

Gary Barnidge. Fringe backup/3rd string TE for about 7 years with Carolina/Cleveland. Barely on the NFL grid. Busts out in 2015 at 30 with 79 catches for over 1,000 yards. Has a decent followup season. Retires

Charles White.

[Gary Najman]

Terrelle Pryor has sure played for a lot of teams (5 and on rosters for 3 others). Appears that’s not the record, though.

A quick Google search suggests that honor belongs to QB J.T. O’Sullivan — between 2002 and 2012, he was on 11 NFL team rosters as well one each in NFL Europe and the CFL. He was a backup QB everywhere except for his stints in NFL Europe and eight games with the 49ers in 2008, so he actually has NFL stats only in 2004 (Green Bay), 2007 (Detroit), 2008 (San Francisco), and 2009 (Cincinnati).

I would think Ryan Fitzpatrick would hold the record for most different NFL teams for which a player has appeared in a game for. I think he may hold several different records in this regard, as he has not only played in games for the Rams, Bengals, Bills, Titans, Texans, Jets, Bucs and Dolphins, he has started games at QB for all of those teams, and he threw TD's and interceptions for all of those teams, which I'm sure can be the answers to weird trivia questions, such as "Which player threw interceptions for eight different teams?". Fitzpatrick has also never played in a playoff game in his career. He's one guy who I always thought was a pretty good QB but for some reason never stuck anyplace and will be remembered for being a perpetual nomad. He comes to mind as having one of the odd careers of the 21st century.

Vinny Testaverde played with 7 teams (but he had two stints with the Jets) and Josh McCown has dressed for 9 teams: Cardinals, Lions, Raiders, Panthers, Bears, Buccaneers, Browns, Jets and Eagles.

[Gary Najman]

Terrelle Pryor has sure played for a lot of teams (5 and on rosters for 3 others). Appears that’s not the record, though.

A quick Google search suggests that honor belongs to QB J.T. O’Sullivan — between 2002 and 2012, he was on 11 NFL team rosters as well one each in NFL Europe and the CFL. He was a backup QB everywhere except for his stints in NFL Europe and eight games with the 49ers in 2008, so he actually has NFL stats only in 2004 (Green Bay), 2007 (Detroit), 2008 (San Francisco), and 2009 (Cincinnati).

I'm pretty sure Josh Johnson has been on the most teams. Also probably has one of the longest gaps between two NFL game appearances, after he came back last year for the Redskins.

Johnson was coveted by the LIons a few weeks ago, but he had already signed with the XFL. Another active quarterback who has been with many teams in multiple leagues (although I don't remember that he has played an NFL regular season game) is McLeod Bethel-Thompson. He played in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts this season, but from 2011-2016 was with the 49ers, Dolphins, Vikings, 49ers (2nd stint), Patriots, Vikings (2nd stint), Dolphins (2nd stint), 49ers (3rd stint) and Eagles, being waived and resigned many times in-between. He also played in the Arena Football League and in the UFL.