46. Joe Theismann: It took years for Theismann to earn a starting job in the NFL, but once he did he played some outstanding football.  Theismann was originally selected in the fourth round (99th overall) by the Miami Dolphins in the 1971 draft out of Notre Dame, but never played a game for the Dolphins.  Instead of joining Miami out of college, Theismann made his was to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.  He spent three seasons with the Argos before joining the Washington Redskins in 1974.  Once with the Redskins, Theismann didn’t start a game for two seasons and wasn’t the everyday starting quarterback until 1978.

His best seasons came in 1982 and 1983.  in 1982, Theismann had a record of 8-1 and made the Pro Bowl for the first time while completing a career-high 63.9 percent of his passes for 2,033 yards and 13 touchdowns.  He also threw eight more touchdowns as the Redskins would win four games to come away with the Super Bowl.

A year later Theismann was even better in leading Washington to a 14-2 regular season record, but didn’t have as much team success as they fell to the Los Angeles Raiders in the Super Bowl.  During the ’83 season, Theismann set career highs with 3,714 yards and 29 touchdowns.  For his efforts that year, Theismann was named the AP NFL MVP and a First-Team All-Pro.

For his career, Theismann completed 56.7 percent of his passes for 25,206 yards and 160 touchdowns.  He also carried the ball 355 times for 1,815 yards and 17 scores.