It only took Josh McCown 17 years in the NFL and eight teams to quarterback a team in the NFL playoffs.
McCown, born July 4, 1979, became the third player 40 or older to play during 2020 wild-card weekend, joining the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Saints’ Drew Brees, who both lost. McCown came off the bench for the Eagles on Sunday after Carson Wentz suffered a head injury midway through the first quarter against the Seahawks.
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After Philadelphia didn’t re-sign Nick Foles and chose not to roll with an oft-injured Nate Sudfeld as Wentz’s top backup, it signed McCown on Aug. 17. While serving as Wentz’s new No. 2 all season, McCown also worked as an assistant coach for his two sons’ high school football team at Myers Park in Charlotte, N.C.
Before 2019, McCown played for seven other teams from 2002-18, spending one year out of the league in 2010.
Can you name them all? Hint: The Eagles are his fifth NFC team. He spent only one season with three of the teams. He has played in the NFC East, NFC North, NFC South, AFC East, AFC North and AFC West, missing only the NFC West. With his career 23-53 regular-season record as a starter, he finished .500 with only one of those teams.
The good news is, if you’re stumped about his non-Philadelphia stops, his daughter and her friends should have provided some major hints more than three years ago.
VIDEO: Emotional McCown thanks family in postgame comments
For sure not pictured was the Eagles. Or the Jets, for whom McCown played from 2017-18.
Your knowledge of NFL jerseys should tell you he played for the Buccaneers, Raiders, Lions, Bears and Browns. The Dolphins remind us he was on that team during the 2008 offseason. He also spent time with the 49ers but didn’t make that roster in 2011. One of the two missing teams, then, are the Cardinals, who drafted him in the third round in 2002 (No. 81 overall) out of Sam Houston State — which was his second college football team after SMU. The other is the Panthers, of course based in Charlotte, where he makes his home.
One more thing: When McCown wasn’t in the NFL in 2010, the native Texan played for the Hartford Colonials of the short-lived United Football League. He has been everywhere, man.
Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Famer Kurt Warner was the unlikeliest playoff QB in the NFL’s 100-year history. Put McCown No. 1 on that list now.