Five Backup Quarterbacks Who Did the Least To Earn Rings since 1990
By Dave Walker ,
It's been said a lot, especially in this tough economic time.
"The more you work, the less you get paid, while the less you work, the more you make."
Coming from a news photographer background, this is often true. While under-paid reporters, photographers, and production people are busy running and gunning, the six-figure anchor is off quaffing his or her hair and putting on his or her makeup.
I am sure there are examples of this everywhere. There is a CEO sitting on his butt making millions, who has no idea how his company works. This was proven by that CBS show Undercover Boss a few months ago.
Even in sports, there are people who do very little. But they still get that championship ring, although they don't make as much—and I am sure they are living on food stamps.
So, I got to thinking about backup quarterbacks the last 20 years who have hardly done anything, yet they still have a ring or two.
Many of them were—or still are—career backups, perfectly carrying a clipboard and earning a paycheck to warm up each week.
Many of them are also guys who would never see the light of day, because they played behind a Hall of Famer.
Can you guess who they are?
If you can name Brett Favre's backup on the '96 team, then hang on and see if you can pick the other four that I have proclaimed the best do-little QBs of the past two decades.
So if you guessed Doug Pederson at the last slide, then you have earned absolutely nothing, but good job anyway.
Doug Pederson was one of the great clipboard holders of all time. He had strong forearms, strong fingers, and didn't mind doing absolutely nothing.
Pederson started his NFL career by signing with the Dolphins as a rookie free agent. He bounced around the roster, going from the practice squad to the team several times. He also played a couple seasons in the World League.
In 1995 he was drafted, yes, drafted, by Carolina in the expansion draft. Carolina realized he wasn't the backup they wanted, as they felt he had a sloppy clipboard mechanic.
Then he found his magic ticket, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and backing up Brett Favre. Mike Holmgren loved his posture on the sideline and thought his penmanship was out of this world.
That year, he won a Super Bowl ring as the Packers defeated New England in the Super Bowl.
He did earn a starting job in the NFL, but only for a brief time with the Eagles in 1999, but they had this McNabb guy they were grooming. Then in 2001, Pederson was brought in to the Browns to groom the great Tim Couch.
It was then Pederson realized that he would rather be backing up a Hall of Famer than a first-pick flop and returned to Green Bay until he retired in 2004.
His career numbers were what you'd expect, more INTs than TDs in a very limited time.
Pederson now serves on the offensive staff for the Philadelphia Eagles, helping greats like Kevin Kolb to learn how to hold a clipboard.
At the University of Wisconsin, Jim Sorgi still has records in several passing categories, including touchdown passes in a game and career passing efficiency.
However, in the NFL, he has been known as just one thing: a Manning backup.
Sorgi was a sixth-round pick to the Colts back in 2004. Then-head coach Tony Dungy saw a great potential in the way he wore a headset and enjoyed standing on a sideline. Dungy would not be disappointed.
Sorgi was outstanding. He barely played, unless it was a blowout or it was late in the season. He wore the baseball hat to perfection. Oh, and he won a Super Bowl ring back in the 2006 season after the Colts beat the Bears.
Life was good, or so we thought.
Sorgi realized that there was another Manning in the league, a younger Manning who may end up playing for a few years after older brother retires. So, after the 2008 season, he decided to follow his heart to a big clipboard in the Big Apple.
Sorgi's career stats: a whopping six touchdown passes and over 100 completions.
Wow!
With a ring for doing squat, Sorgi joins the list at No. 4.
So, first off, I know all the Cowboys fans are gonna say, "He did something! What the hell are you talking about?"
And, maybe they are right.
Garrett is best known for his Clint Longley-like performance in a Thanksgiving Day win over the Packers back in 1994. The Packers were well on their way to beating Dallas for the first time since Moses parted the Red Sea when Garrett led a second-half performance that included two touchdown passes and over 300 yards, as the Cowboys blew out Green Bay in the second half.
Other than that, he held a clipboard, wore a pretty hat, and hung out with his fellow convicts—I mean, Cowboys.
Garrett won rings as a backup to Troy Aikman in 1993 and 1995, and also helped Emmitt Smith with his beard coloring in the locker room, while holding cocaine for the various members of the team.
I know, not true—just kidding.
Garrett briefly had stints with the Giants, Bucs, and Dolphins to end his career. He would throw for more than 2,000 yards and 11 touchdowns in his career, making him a possible Hall of Fame inductee in the 2011 class.
Garrett is now back in the Big D as the offensive coordinator.
Now we get to the final two.
The guys who have multiple rings and have done jack for their team.
Charlie Batch hasn't had a terrible career. He was a starter in Detroit for a few years, but injury-prone. His 9,000 career passing yards still nets him as one of the all time leaders in franchise history, which says it all for the Lions.
In 2002, he was signed by the Steelers, where he sat as a backup to Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox. He saw some time in 2003, spent 2004 on injured reserve—and then there was 2005.
In 2005, he actually filled in for Ben Roethlisberger and won two games, but again, these were Steelers teams that had solid defenses, so he didn't have to do too much.
Big Ben returned after that, and Batch returned to styling the hat and watching the amazing run that was that team.
They won Super Bowl 40 as the sixth seed in the AFC.
Deja vu occurred in 2008. This time, he didn't even touch the ball, which is great. He got injured during the first preseason game and was placed on injured reserve.
It was very Batch-esque.
In the end, the Steelers won another title, and Batch got another ring, this time for hanging in street clothes.
Two and counting for the Pittsburgh native Charlie Batch as he looks for one for the clipboard pencil.
The ultimate in turd-dom comes at No. 1 in Rohan Davey, who won two rings in New England backing up Tom Brady.
The Pats actually drafted Davey as the 117th pick in the 2002 NFL draft. He played very little for the Pats.
I don't remember much about the guy, except he was a free agent QB on Madden for a few years.
In fact, he didn't even hit the 100-yard passing mark during his entire career and threw absolutely no touchdowns—yet he has two rings.
Perhaps the highlight of his career came during his 2004 stint in NFL Europe, where he was their player of the year and he won a World Bowl title.
Do you get a ring for that?
Upon his return to the states, the Pats realized what a turd they had, and he would later be pushed further down the depth charts until being officially released in 2005. He had one more stint in Arizona as a third-stringer in 2005, but that was it for his NFL career.
He would later resurface in the Arena League. He had just signed with the Cleveland Steamers when the league went under.
No one has seen Davey since.
Actually, I have no clue what happened to this guy. I tried researching it. The only thing that came back were joke pages.
Therefore, I feel confident in saying Rohan Davey is the biggest piece of waste to ever win two rings as a backup QB.
To finalize this list, I will just say these are the best my little mind could come up with.
I am sure there are some other guys, maybe third-stringers, I have never heard who have won rings.
Also take into consideration that someone like Steve Young won rings as a backup, but also won one as a starter, so he couldn't qualify for this award.
So who did I miss? Are there other guys that are bigger free-riders than these guys?
Please fell free to leave your comments, and if you or anyone has seen Rohan Davey, you are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.
