The 10 Best Titans Quarterbacks of All Time, Ranked

Although the Titans, in their current incarnation, are one of the youngest franchises in the NFL and have had middling, perhaps below-average success in their 25-year spell, their predecessors were once a juggernaut.

In what was a unique move in pro football history, the once highly successful Houston Oilers not only moved from Houston to Tennessee in 1997 but changed the team name from the Oilers to the Titans in 1999.

While their names are wholly different, we’ve decided to include Oilers quarterbacks in this list, as they comprise the same lineal franchise as the Titans.

So, with that all cleared up, here are the Top 10 Titans — and Oilers — quarterbacks of all time:

---

10. Kerry Collins (2006 – 2010)

Kerry Collins split time with the ultra injury-prone Vince Young over his five-year stay in Tennessee, with the majority of it coming through backup duty. A wondrous Pro Bowl 2008 season in which Collins helped the team to a 13-3 record, starting all but one game, gets him on this list. A man whose career achievements far extend beyond his later years with the Titans, Collins excellently game-managed the Titans in his biggest year, consistently putting in strong performances without dazzling the stats board as Tennessee gained the top seed in the AFC.

---

9. Pete Beathard (1967 – 1969)

Pete Beathard will never be remembered as the most polished quarterback with the most pristine, clean play. His 51.2 quarterback rating still ranks poorly even for the 1960s, and he never managed to get past the 50% competition percentage marker in any of his three starting seasons. But Beathard did contribute to a reasonably strong time in Oilers history, going 15-9 as a starter, including managing to go 7-2 in the 1967 season, helping them reach the AFL conference championship, where they lost to the Oakland Raiders.

---

8. Ken Stabler (1980 – 1981)

A Hall of Famer who did not have any of his best years with the Oilers, Ken Stabler saved his best work for the Oakland Raiders, where he won a Super Bowl, an MVP and was selected to four Pro Bowls and a pair of All-Pro teams. Yet his time in Houston was by no means wasted, as Stabler (appropriately) stabilized the ship rocked by the departure of long-time starter Dan Pastorini to Oakland in 1980, and brought the Titans to a strong 11-5 record in his first year, despite throwing 28 picks. While his subsequent year went less well, re-joining the team after the injury to Gifford Neilsen and going 5-7, his tenure can still be considered a reasonable success.

READ NEXT: The 10 Best Raiders Quarterbacks of All Time, Ranked

---

7. Marcus Mariota (2015 – 2019)

A prospect with high hopes that eventually proved to be no more than a quality career backup, Marcus Mariota was not a total bust for the Titans, hovering around the .500 for the majority of his time in Tennessee. A self-caught pass during what was an unlikely, come-from-behind 2017 Wild Card win against the Alex Smith-led Kansas City Chiefs, highlights what was a respectable but ultimately disappointing Tennessee career for the 2015 NFL draft’s No. 2 overall pick.

---

6. Vince Young (2006 – 2010)

A scintillating initial spark that never kindled into a rip-roaring fire, Vince Young was one of the most highly anticipated dual-threat quarterbacks coming out of college after putting up one of the great college football performances ever to win the 2005 National Championship Rose Bowl. And with an electric Pro Bowl, OROY debut season that saw him pass for 2,199 yards and rush for 552 more, Young had high hopes going forward. Yet, with injuries in three of his next four seasons, the former Texas Longhorn never managed to establish consistency his play, despite another Pro Bowl 2009 season. A huge “what if?,” one cannot help but imagine what Young could have become had he remained broadly injury free.

READ NEXT: The 10 Best Dual-Threat QBs of All Time, Ranked

---

5. Ryan Tannehill (2019 – 2023)

Tennessee’s replacement for the injured and out-of-form Mariota, Ryan Tannehill was expected to be little more than a stop-gap, veteran presence in the Titans’ QB room as the franchise looked for their new, long-term signal caller. Yet with play that far exceeded what had been a competent but highly average seven-year career in Miami, Tannehill proved that his best days were in front of him, guiding the Titans to their first conference championship in 17 years in 2019. Subsequent 11-5 and 12-5 seasons, in the latter of which the Titans were the No. 1 seed in the AFC, puts him as a surefire Top 5 Titan QB of all-time.

---

4. Dan Pastorini (1971 – 1979)

Despite playing nine years in Houston, Dan Pastorini presided over the team’s most barren spell, starting at least eight games in seven of the team’s eight-year gap between playoff appearances between 1969-1978. And with a tough initial start to his Oilers career, 5-25 in his first three seasons, things did not look promising for the former No. 3 overall pick. Yet, with improvements made in his fourth year in 1974, where he set career highs in completion percentage (56.7) and passer rating (72.4), and a subsequent Pro Bowl 1975 season, Pastorini established himself as the signal caller of the franchise. Winning seasons in three of his final five years, including consecutive conference championship appearances in 1978-79, cemented his legacy as a quarterback that came good.

---

3. George Blanda (1960 – 1966)

The Oilers’s inaugural quarterback, George Blanda continues a long-running trend of new franchises starting off with a bang, as he led Houston to successive AFL Championships in the team’s first two seasons. An MVP, two-time All AFL and four-time All Star who lead the AFL in completions for three consecutive years from 1963-65, Blanda did it all and received every accolade. A big armed gunslinger, Blanda was never afraid to heave the ball down the field in search of the big play. It is not surprising, as a result, that he still owns the record for most interceptions thrown in a single season, at 42 — done in just 14 games.

---

2. Steve McNair (1995 – 2005)

Another first — this time the Oilers’ first QB upon their relocation to Tennessee for the 1997 season. In fact, despite starting his career off as an Oiler, going 4-2 between 1995-96, Steve McNair only took the Titans’ starting reins at the commencement their inaugural year, going 8-8. Another dual-threat franchise QB in the storied Titans/Oilers history, McNair rushed for at least 400 yards in each of his first six starting seasons in Tennessee. An NFL co-MVP and three-time Pro Bowler who brought the Titans to the cusp of their first Super Bowl, only to lose to the Greatest Show On Turf in the 2000 Super Bowl, McNair suffered a tragic death at age 36, two years following his move to Baltimore, but will forever be remembered as one of the great Titans players.

READ NEXT: The 10 Most Underrated NFL Quarterbacks All Time, Ranked

---

1. Warren Moon (1984 – 1993)

The greatest quarterback, and quite possibly the greatest player, in Oiler/Titan history, NFL MVP Warren Moon ushered in a golden age for the Oilers in the late 1980s to early 1990s, where they won two division championships and went to the playoffs in seven straight years. The man who, unbelievably, had a 17-year NFL career after already playing six glory-filled years in the CFL, led the NFL in completions, attempts and yards in 1990 and ’91, was one of the league’s OG dual-option QBs. Despite this, he remains the only quarterback in Oilers/Titans history to have ever had a 4,000+ yard passing season, achieving this twice in a career that puts him in the upper echelon of QBs to have ever played the game.

The list isn’t over yet! See our pick for Number 11 HERE. Sound off to let us know who we missed!

1 Comment