Question
There’s been some speculation about the Browns not only selecting a quarterback in the first round but also picking another quarterback later in the draft. In the last 30 years, who are the two most notable quarterbacks who were selected after their teams had already drafted other quarterbacks? Both, oddly, were selected by the same franchise. Both started in the playoffs, and both played in the Pro Bowl.
Answer
Kirk Cousins and Gus Frerotte. Cousins was selected in the fourth round in 2012, after Washington chose Robert Griffin III 2nd overall. Frerotte was a seventh-round pick in 1996, after the team picked Heath Shuler 3rd. If you want to dig back into the ‘70s and early ‘80s, Ken Stabler, Steve DeBerg, Bill Kenney and Lynn Dickey all had some NFL success, and each was selected after their teams earlier drafted a different quarterback. Dickey (who played his best ball in Green Bay) was notable in that the Oilers picked him in the third round in 1971 after using the 3rd pick on Dan Pastorini. Stabler was a second-round pick in 1968, chosen after Oakland chose Eldridge Dickey in the first. Dickey was a quarterback at Tennessee State and hoped to play that position in the pros. He played quarterback in the preseason as a rookie but prior to the regular season was moved to wide receiver, which might have been where the Raiders were hoping to play him all along. At that time, there were no blacks playing quarterback in either the AFL or NFL.