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Quarterbacks

Big fan of Detroit football? Then check out this list of Detroit Lions quarterbacks! It includes every starting quarterback from throughout <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-detroit-lions-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Detroit Lions history</a>, including current quarterbacks and past ones. This roster contains many American football greats, players in the game with the highest ratings in the NFL. The QB is the leader of the offensive team, the one who often calls the plays. Although most teams use an offensive coordinator now, QBs still need to know the intricacies of the rules for trick plays and tactics. Vigorous training is a must-- and don&#39;t forget that a quarterback is only as good as his receivers.

Featuring some of the greatest NFL quarterbacks&nbsp;of all time, the best Lions QBs include&nbsp;Booby Layne, Matthew Stafford, Eric Hipple, and Dutch Clark, as well as current Lions QB quarterback Jared Goff.&nbsp;

Who are the best quarterbacks in Detroit Lions history? Vote up your favorite Detroit Lions quarterback, and help decide who is the best Lions QB of all time.

List of All Detroit Lions Quarterbacks, Ranked Best to Worst

The Best Detroit Lions Quarterbacks of All Time

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Matthew Stafford

John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He was raised in Dallas, Texas, and went to Highland Park High School. He attended the University of Georgia, where he played football for the Bulldogs, and was drafted by the Lions first overall in the 2009 NFL Draft. He played in Detroit for 11 seasons, before being traded to the Los Angeles Rams on January 31, 2021.
Stafford is the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 5,000 yards in a single season, being one of three players to do it in 2011, and is the fastest player in NFL history to reach 30,000 yards in (109 games). Stafford also holds the NFL record for the most comeback wins in a season, recording eight in the 2016 NFL season. In 2017, he signed a $135-million contract extension with the Lions, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time.

Bobby Layne

Robert Lawrence Layne (December 19, 1926 – December 1, 1986) was an American football quarterback who played for 15 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Chicago Bears in 1948, the New York Bulldogs in 1949, the Detroit Lions from 1950–1958, and the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1958–1962.
Layne was selected by the Bears with the third overall pick of the 1948 NFL draft. He played college football at the University of Texas. Layne was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968. His number, 22, has been retired by the University of Texas Longhorns and Detroit Lions.

Dutch Clark

Earl Harry "Dutch" Clark (October 11, 1906 – August 5, 1978), sometimes also known as the "Flying Dutchman" and the "Old Master", was an American football player and coach, basketball player and coach, and university athletic director. He gained his greatest acclaim as a football player and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1963. He was also named in 1969 to the NFL 1930s All-Decade Team and was the first player to have his jersey (No. 7) retired by the Detroit Lions.
Born in Colorado, Clark attended Colorado College where he played football, basketball, and baseball, and also competed in track and field.  During the 1928 football season, he rushed for 1,349 yards, scored 103 points, and became the first player from Colorado to receive first-team All-American honors.  After graduating in 1930, he remained at Colorado College as the head basketball coach and assistant football coach.
Clark played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions from 1931–1938. He was selected as the first-team All-Pro quarterback six times, was named by the United Press (UP) as the best player in the NFL in both 1935 and 1936, led the Lions to the 1935 NFL championship, and led the NFL in total offense in 1934 and scoring in 1932, 1935, and 1936. In his final two seasons with the Lions, he also served as the team's head coach. In 1940, he was selected by the Associated Press (AP) as the outstanding football player of the 1930s.
Clark was the head coach at the Colorado School of Mines (1933) and with the Cleveland Rams (NFL, 1939–1942) and Seattle Bombers (American Football League, 1944), an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Dons (All-America Football Conference, 1949) and University of Detroit Titans (1950), and head coach and athletic director for the University of Detroit (1951–1953).

Greg Landry

Gregory Paul Landry (born December 18, 1946) is a former American football player and coach who played quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1981, and again in 1984. He played for the Detroit Lions, the Baltimore Colts and the Chicago Bears.  He also played college football at Massachusetts.

Erik Kramer

William Erik Kramer (born November 6, 1964) is an American former football quarterback. He attended John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California. After attending Los Angeles Pierce College and playing as their quarterback, Kramer transferred to North Carolina State University. He was not drafted by an NFL team, but did see action in 1987, when he played for the Atlanta Falcons as a replacement player during the NFL players strike. He would then spend some time in the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders. Kramer would return to the NFL in 1991, when he became a surprise starter for the Detroit Lions after injuries sidelined Rodney Peete. Kramer played in 13 games, led the Lions to a 12–4 record, their first playoff victory since 1962, and a trip to the NFC Championship Game.

Tobin Rote

Tobin Cornelius Rote (January 18, 1928 – June 27, 2000) was an American football player who played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos of the American Football League (AFL).

Gary Danielson

Gary Dennis Danielson (born September 10, 1951) is a former professional American football player and a current college football commentator. Danielson was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL).  He played for the Detroit Lions from 1976 to 1984 and for the Cleveland Browns in 1985, 1987, and 1988. He is currently working for CBS Sports as a commentator for its college football coverage; he previously held the same position for ABC Sports.

Earl Morrall

Earl Edwin Morrall (May 17, 1934 – April 25, 2014) was an American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for twenty-one seasons. Morrall, who also occasionally punted, played 21 seasons in the National Football League as both a starter and reserve. In the latter capacity, he became known as one of the greatest backup quarterbacks in NFL history. During the 1968 Baltimore Colts season, he filled in for an injured Johnny Unitas leading to an NFL championship shutout victory and Super Bowl III, which they lost to the New York Jets.  For the 1972 Miami Dolphins season (both under coach Don Shula) he filled in for an injured Bob Griese leading to Super Bowl VII and the only perfect season in NFL history. Morrall made Pro Bowl appearances following the 1957 and 1968 seasons.

Rodney Peete

Rodney Peete (born March 16, 1966) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 years. He played college football for the USC Trojans football team. He retired from playing in 2004 and is now in broadcasting.

Dave Krieg

David Michael Krieg ( KRAYG; born October 20, 1958) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He attended Milton College and made the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. In his 19-year NFL career, Krieg played for the Seattle Seahawks (1980–1991), the Kansas City Chiefs (1992–1993), the Detroit Lions (1994), the Arizona Cardinals (1995), the Chicago Bears (1996) and the Tennessee Oilers (1997–1998).

Scott Mitchell

William Scott Mitchell (born January 2, 1968) is a former professional American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League for 12 seasons. He played for the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL, and also the Orlando Thunder of the World League of American Football. Mitchell played college football for the University of Utah.

Eric Hipple

Eric Ellsworth Hipple (born September 16, 1957) is a public speaker and a retired professional American football player.

Shaun Hill

Shaun Christopher Hill (born January 9, 1980) is a former American football quarterback who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2002. He played college football at Maryland. Hill also played for the Amsterdam Admirals, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, and St. Louis Rams.

Bill Munson

William Alan Munson (August 11, 1941 – July 10, 2000) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 through 1979. He also played college football for Utah State where he set multiple passing records as a senior in 1963. 
Drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the 1964 NFL Draft, Munson was the Rams' starting quarterback in 1964 and 1965 and a backup to Roman Gabriel in 1966 and 1967.  In 1968, Munson was traded to the Detroit Lions where he remained for eight seasons (1968–1975), competing all the while for the starting quarterback position with Greg Landry.  Munson concluded his career as a backup quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks (1976), San Diego Chargers (1977), and Buffalo Bills (1978–1979). 
In 16 NFL seasons, Munson appeared in 107 games, 66 of them as a starting quarterback.  His teams compiled a 27–34–5 record in the 66 games he started.  Munson completed 1,070 of 1,982 passes for 12,896 yards, 84 touchdowns, and 80 interceptions. He also accumulated 548 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 130 carries.

Frank Reich

Frank Michael Reich Jr.  (rye-k) (born December 4, 1961) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). Reich played college football at the University of Maryland and was chosen by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 1985 NFL draft; he also played for the Carolina Panthers, New York Jets and Detroit Lions. Reich and Bills starting quarterback Jim Kelly formed one of the longest-tenured backup-and-starter tandems, playing together for nine seasons from 1986 to 1994. For a time, Reich had the distinction of having led his team to the biggest comeback victory ever in both the college and NFL ranks, including a 32-point comeback for the Bills in 1993.
Starting as an intern with the Colts in 2006, Reich has also coached with the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers. As the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017, Reich won Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots.

Milt Plum

Milton Ross Plum (born January 20, 1935) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns (1957–61), Detroit Lions (1962–67), Los Angeles Rams (1968) and New York Giants (1969) of the National Football League.

Byron White

Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White (June 8, 1917 – April 15, 2002) was an American lawyer and professional football player who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1962 to 1993. Born and raised in Colorado, he played college football, basketball, and baseball for the University of Colorado, finishing as the runner up for the Heisman Trophy in 1937. He was selected in the first round of the 1938 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and led the National Football League in rushing yards in his rookie season. White was admitted to Yale Law School in 1939 and played for the Detroit Lions in the 1940 and 1941 seasons. During World War II, he served as an intelligence officer with the United States Navy in the Pacific. After the war, he graduated from Yale and clerked for Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson.
White entered private practice in Denver, Colorado, working primarily as a transactional attorney. He served as the Colorado state chair of John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign and accepted appointment as the United States Deputy Attorney General in 1961. In 1962, President Kennedy successfully nominated White to the Supreme Court, making White the first Supreme Court Justice from Colorado. He retired in 1993 and was succeeded by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. White is the twelfth longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history.
White viewed his own court decisions as based on the facts of each case rather than as representative of a specific legal philosophy. He wrote the majority opinion in cases including Coker v. Georgia, Washington v. Davis and Bowers v. Hardwick. He wrote dissenting opinions in notable cases such as Miranda v. Arizona, Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, and Roe v. Wade.

Jared Goff

Jared Thomas Goff (born October 14, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at University of California, Berkeley and was a first-team All-Pac-12 quarterback in 2015. He was selected by the Rams with the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. He started his rookie season as the backup to Case Keenum, eventually taking over as the starter during the latter half of the season. In 2018, Goff helped lead the Rams to a 13–3 record and a trip to Super Bowl LIII, the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance since the 2001 season, but lost to the New England Patriots 13-3. He has been selected to two Pro Bowls. In the summer of 2019, Goff launched his own apparel brand, JG16. In January 2021, Goff was traded to the Detroit Lions.

Glenn Presnell

Glenn Emery "Press" Presnell (July 28, 1905 – September 13, 2004) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator.  He set the NFL single-season scoring record in 1933 and led the league in total offense.  He was the last surviving member of the Detroit Lions inaugural 1934 team and helped lead the team to its first NFL championship in 1935.  He also set an NFL record with a 54-yard field goal in 1934, a record which was not broken for 19 years.  Presnell served as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1942 and at  Eastern Kentucky State College—now known as Eastern Kentucky University–from 1954 to 1963, compiling a career college football coaching record of 45–56–3.  He was also the athletic director at Eastern Kentucky from 1963 to 1971.

David Blough

David Marshall Blough (born July 31, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He was Purdue's backup quarterback in 2015 and led the Boilermakers to a win against Nebraska. As a redshirt sophomore in 2016, he started 12 games and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. Blough was selected by ESPN.com as the thirty-fifth best high school quarterback. He signed with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent at the conclusion of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Following an injury to Lions starter Matthew Stafford and backup quarterback Jeff Driskel during the 2019 season, Blough assumed the starting role for the final five games of the Lions' 2019 season.

Jon Kitna

Jon Kelly Kitna (born September 21, 1972) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. After playing college football for Central Washington University, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 1996 and was allocated to the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe in 1997. He led the Dragons to a World Bowl championship, and became the starting quarterback for the Seahawks in 1998 after spending the 1997 and most of the 1998 seasons as the backup to Warren Moon. Following a four-year stint with Seattle, Kitna signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001. He played for the Bengals from 2001 to 2005 as their starting quarterback, and, later, the mentor to Carson Palmer. He was a member of the Detroit Lions from 2006 to 2008, and the Dallas Cowboys from 2009 to 2011.

Charlie Batch

Charles D'Donte Batch (born December 5, 1974) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 1998 NFL Draft and played 15 seasons in the NFL, most of it as a backup with his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, with whom he earned two Super Bowl rings (Super Bowl XL and Super Bowl XLIII). He played college football at Eastern Michigan.
Batch currently works for KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh as a pre-game analyst for the Steelers as well as a color commentator for their preseason games. Batch also works with Champs Sports Network as a color analyst for WPIAL high school football and basketball broadcasts.

Frank Sinkwich

Frank Francis Sinkwich Sr. (October 10, 1920 – October 22, 1990) was an American football player and coach.  He won the Heisman Trophy in 1942 playing for the University of Georgia, making him the first recipient from the Southeastern Conference. In the course of a brief but celebrated career in professional football, Sinkwich was selected for the National Football League Most Valuable Player Award.  He coached the Erie (PA) Vets semi-professional football team in 1949.  Sinkwich was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

Don Majkowski

Donald "Majik" Vincent Majkowski (born February 25, 1964) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, and Detroit Lions.

Matt Cassel

Matthew Brennan Cassel (born May 17, 1982) is a American football quarterback who is currently a free agent . He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football at USC. A journeyman quarterback throughout his career, Cassel has also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and Detroit Lions. 
Cassel became the Patriots' starting quarterback after Week 1 of the 2008 season after then reigning NFL MVP Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury. In February 2009, the Patriots used their franchise tag on Cassel, extending him a one-year contract worth over $14 million, the largest one-year contract for an offensive player in NFL history. Later that offseason, the Patriots made a trade which sent Cassel to the Kansas City Chiefs, who signed him to a 6-year, $62.7 million contract in July 2009. In 2010, Cassel led the Chiefs to their first AFC West divisional championship in seven years and earned a Pro Bowl selection in the process. He played only partial seasons as the Chiefs starting quarterback as injuries limited his playing time in 2011 and 2012. After the Chiefs cut him in the 2013 off-season, he signed with the Vikings. Coming off of the bench, he earned his way to the Vikings starter in 2013, but additional injuries cut his 2014 season short after only three games. He was traded by the Vikings to the Buffalo Bills for the 2015 season, however, the Bills traded him to the Dallas Cowboys after only three games. While with the Cowboys, he served a back-up role, starting several games in place of the injured Tony Romo. After being released by the Cowboys following the 2015 season, he spent 2016 and 2017 as a back-up for the Tennessee Titans and served a similar role in 2018 for the Detroit Lions.

Big fan of Detroit football? Then check out this list of Detroit Lions quarterbacks! It includes every starting quarterback from throughout Detroit Lions ...