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When a quarterback is drafted high in the first round, he is expected to become a franchise savior and turn around a team’s fortunes; though some of these lofty draft picks go on to become Hall of Famers (e.g. Peyton Manning and John Elway, to name a few), others are colossal busts (e.g. JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, etc.). Somewhere in-between these two extremes is the quarterback who does not quite become a superstar, but nevertheless has a very long and productive career as a starter with flashes of brilliance; two signal-callers in recent memory who fit this mold were Kerry Collins and Vinny Testaverde – neither was an all-time great, but both played nearly two decades in the NFL and had Pro Bowl seasons, retiring as among the most prolific passers in league history (which is certainly nothing to scoff at). Looking back on these two underrated, but productive quarterbacks, the comparisons lead to a natural question:
Who was better – Kerry Collins or Vinny Testaverde?
The Beginning
As superstar college quarterbacks, Collins and Testaverde both set passing records for traditional powerhouse schools and won a slew of individual awards; though each was a high first-round draft pick expected to become a franchise signal-caller, both experienced growing pains with the transition from college to the pros.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Collins excelled at football, basketball, and baseball in high school (he was actually selected in the 26th round of the 1990 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers, and then again in 1991 by Detroit and in 1994 by the Toronto Blue Jays) before attending in-state powerhouse Penn State to play college football under legendary coach Joe Paterno. After taking over as the starting quarterback in his sophomore season, he gradually improved and by his senior year in 1994, set numerous school passing records to lead the Nittany Lions to a perfect 12-0 record and a Rose Bowl victory to finish #2 behind Nebraska; individually, he earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and First Team All-American honors, won the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards, and finished fourth for the Heisman Trophy. As result, Collins was selected fifth overall in the 1995 NFL Draft as the first ever draft pick of the expansion Carolina Panthers; expected to be the team’s franchise quarterback, he had a rough rookie season, completing just 49.4% of his passes for 2,717 yards and 14 touchdowns vs. 19 interceptions (61.9 QB rating), though did lead Carolina to a 7-6 record in 13 starts.
Meanwhile, as a native New Yorker, Testaverde did not immediately attend college after graduating from high school, but instead first spent a post-graduate year at Fork Union Military Academy. From there, he earned a football scholarship to the University of Miami, where he redshirted and then backed up future NFL star Bernie Kosar before earning the starting quarterback job in 1985; as part of a history of great Hurricanes quarterbacks (including Kosar, Jim Kelly, Gino Torretta, Steve Walsh, etc.), Testaverde had a strong junior year before dominating as a senior and sweeping most of the individual awards: First Team All-American, UPI Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, Walter Camp Award, Davey O’Brien Award, Maxwell Award, and the Heisman Trophy. However, even though he set the all-time Miami career passing touchdown record (48), he threw five interceptions in a Fiesta Bowl loss to Penn State that prevented the Hurricanes from a national title. Nevertheless, he was selected #1 overall in the 1987 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to replace quarterback Steve Young; appearing in six games as a rookie with four starts, Testaverde only completed 43.0% of his passes for 1,081 yards and 5 touchdowns vs. 6 interceptions for a 60.2 QB rating and an 0-4 starting record.
Career Comparison
During long and winding NFL careers spanning nearly two decades apiece, Collins and Testaverde were both semi-nomadic quarterbacks who had up-and-down careers, but experienced success with multiple franchises and ultimately accumulated impressive career passing totals.
In just his second season with the Panthers, Collins earned a Pro Bowl selection on the strength of throwing for 2,454 yards (56.0% completion rate) with 14 touchdowns vs. 9 interceptions, resulting in a 79.4 QB rating and a 9-3 record as a starter. However, he regressed significantly the following year and led the league with 21 interceptions (vs. only 11 touchdowns); then, midway through an 0-4 start with Carolina in 1998, in part due to his personal battle with alcoholism, Collins asked to be traded and was instead waived and later picked up by the rival New Orleans Saints, where he would play out the rest of the season. A free agent at season’s end, he signed with the New York Giants with the intention of serving as Kent Graham’s backup.
It was in New York that Collins would have some of his most consistent and productive years as a passer – after taking over as the starter during the 1999 season, he broke out in 2000 by completing 58.8% of his passes for 3,610 yards (the first of six consecutive 3,000-yard seasons) and a career-high 22 touchdowns vs. 13 interceptions, good for an 83.1 QB rating and a 12-4 record. After passing for 3,764yards in 2001, but setting an NFL record with 23 fumbles, he set a then-Giants record with 4,073 passing yards (on a career-best 61.5% completion rate) for 19 touchdowns vs. 14 interceptions (85.4 QB rating) while guiding the team to a 10-6 record. Following another 3,000-yard season in 2003, there was a changing of the guard at quarterback in New York, as Collins was released to make way for free agent signing Kurt Warner and #1 overall draft pick Eli Manning.
From there, Collins would sign with the Oakland Raiders – again, he was originally slated to be Rich Gannon’s backup, but quickly assumed the starting job. Despite passing for 3,000+ yards and 20+ touchdowns in both of his seasons in the silver-and-black, he led the league in picks once again in 2004 (with 20 interceptions) and was just 7-21 as a starter. Released after the 2005 season, he then joined the Tennessee Titans; across five seasons with the Titans, he was primarily a backup to Vince Young, but started 15 games in the 2008 season and had his second and final Pro Bowl campaign: 58.3% of passes completed for 2,676 yards with 12 touchdowns vs. 7 interceptions, good for an 80.2 QB rating and a 12-3 record. Though he announced his retirement after the 2010 season at age 38, Collins briefly put those plans on hold to join the Indianapolis Colts as Peyton Manning’s backup; overall, he made three starts (going 0-3) before retiring for good at age 39, having played for six NFL teams and compiled over 40,000 career passing yards.
Likewise, Testaverde struggled as the expected franchise quarterback for Tampa Bay – with a lackadaisical supporting cast, he threw for 3,240 yards in 1988, but completed less than 50% of his passes and led the NFL with 35 interceptions, the second-highest single-season total in league history behind only George Blanda’s 42 in 1962. Things were not much better in 1989, as Testaverde once again passed for 3,000+ yards, but still led the league with 22 picks. Perhaps his “best”/least worst season with the Buccaneers came in 1990, when he completed 55.6% of his passes for 2,818 yards with 17 touchdowns vs. 18 interceptions for a 75.6 QB rating and a 6-7 starting record. Following two more seasons with Tampa Bay, where he threw for less than 3,000 yards with more interceptions than touchdowns and a losing record, he became a free agent and signed with the Cleveland Browns to back-up former college teammate Bernie Kosar.
As a member of the Browns, Testaverde soon became the starting quarterback and had some effective years under center – notably, in 1995, despite a 4-8 record, he completed 61.5% of his passes for 2,883 yards and 17 touchdowns vs. 10 interceptions for an 87.8 QB rating. In the offseason, the Browns relocated to Baltimore and became the Ravens franchise, and this fresh start resulted in the best season of Testaverde’s career – with career-highs of 4,177 passing yards (on a 59.2% completion rate) with 33 touchdowns (vs. 19 interceptions) in 1996, he compiled an 88.7 QB rating to earn his first Pro Bowl selection at the age of 33, though the team was just 4-12. After another solid season, the team traded for Jim Harbaugh and released Testaverde, leading to him joining his hometown New York Jets.
In his first season in New York in 1998, Testaverde had a true #1 receiver in Keyshawn Johnson to throw to and responded with another Pro Bowl season, throwing for 3,256 yards (on a 61.5% completion rate) with 29 touchdowns vs. just 7 interceptions, good for a career-best 101.6 QB rating and a 12-1 record. However, he tore his Achilles tendon in the first game of the 1999 season and missed the rest of the year, though bounced back the next year to throw for 3,732 yards, albeit with a league-high 25 interceptions. Following a ho-hum season in 2001, Testaverde ceded the starting quarterback job to Chad Pennington and would be a backup for two seasons before joining the Dallas Cowboys in 2004 to reunite with old coach Bill Parcells; in his lone season with the Cowboys, he started 15 games (going 5-10) and threw for 3,532 yards on 60.0% passing with 17 touchdowns, but led the league in interceptions for a fourth time (20 picks). Over the next three years, Testaverde bounced around in a backup role for the Jets (second stint), New England Patriots, and Panthers before retiring at the ripe old age of 44, having suited up for seven different teams.
Overall, both Collins and Testaverde played in the NFL for a long time, i.e. nearly/more than two decades and 200 career games; with the benefit of greater longevity, the latter threw for more yards and more touchdowns with a better completion rate and QB rating, but also with significantly more interceptions. On a season-by-season basis, each passer had six 3,000-yard seasons (including a single 4,000-yard campaign) and a pair of Pro Bowl selections, with Testaverde throwing for 20+ and 30+ touchdowns more frequently (4x vs. 3x and 1x vs. none, respectively); looking at it from a per-game perspective, Collins averaged 207 passing yards with 1.05 touchdowns vs. 0.99 interceptions across 198 regular season games vs. 198 yards with 1.18 touchdowns vs. 1.15 interceptions across 233 regular season games for Testaverde. However, both quarterbacks had sub-.500 records as starters (sub-45% winning percentage, in fact); as a result, despite relatively gaudy numbers (each ranked top-10 in career passing yards at the time of his retirement), neither is likely to be a Hall of Famer.
Regular Season Statistics
| Kerry Collins | Player | Vinny Testaverde |
| 17 (1995-2011) | Seasons | 21 (1987-2007) |
| 198 | Games Played | 233 |
| 3,487 | Completions | 3,787 |
| 6,261 | Attempts | 6,701 |
| 40,922 | Passing Yards | 46,233 |
| 55.7% | Completion % | 56.5% |
| 208 | Passing Touchdowns | 275 |
| 196 | Interceptions | 267 |
| 73.8 | QB Rating | 75.0 |
| 81-99 (45.0%) | Starting QB Record | 90-123-1 (42.3%) |
| 2x | Pro Bowls | 2x |
| – | All-Pro | – |
| – | MVP | – |
| – | Super Bowls | – |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Despite being sub-.500 quarterbacks for their careers, both Collins and Testaverde nevertheless had their moments of brilliance where they led their respective teams deep into the playoffs, with the former playing in the Super Bowl on one occasion.
Across four career playoff trips with the Panthers, Giants, and Titans, Collins twice made the NFC Conference Championship, first losing in 1996 by a score of 30-13 to Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. His greatest playoff success came in 2000 with New York, when he was a sterling 28 of 39 for 381 yards and 5 touchdowns vs. 2 interceptions in a 41-0 thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game to advance to Super Bowl XXXV; however, in the Super Bowl, Collins was a putrid 15 of 39 for just 112 yards and 4 interceptions as the Giants were handily defeated 34-7 by Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens.
Similarly, Testaverde made four career postseason trips with the Browns and Jets, with his greatest success coming in 1998 – in a 34-24 Divisional Round victory vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, he threw for 284 yards and a touchdown with a pick; in the AFC Championship, while Testaverde did complete 31 of 52 passes for 356 yards, he threw 2 interceptions in a 23-10 defeat.
Playoff Statistics
| Kerry Collins | Player | Vinny Testaverde |
| 7 | Games Played | 7 |
| 141 | Completions | 114 |
| 241 | Attempts | 189 |
| 1,556 | Passing Yards | 1,320 |
| 58.5% | Completion % | 60.3% |
| 12 | Passing Touchdowns | 6 |
| 11 | Interceptions | 5 |
| 75.3 | QB Rating | 81.0 |
| 3-4 (42.9%) | Starting QB Record | 2-3 (40.0%) |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; from struggling with the teams that originally drafted them, Collins and Testaverde each found success with various teams later on, but also had somewhat nomadic careers as good, but not great starting quarterbacks. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Kerry Collins | Player | Vinny Testaverde |
| 1995-1996, 1998, 2000-2005, 2008 | Decade of Dominance | 1990, 1992, 1994-1998, 2000-2001, 2004 |
| 145 | Games Played | 146 |
| 2,678 | Completions | 2,597 |
| 4,785 | Attempts | 4,457 |
| 31,871 | Passing Yards | 31,250 |
| 56.0% | Completion % | 58.3% |
| 166 | Passing Touchdowns | 197 |
| 141 | Interceptions | 162 |
| 75.8 | QB Rating | 79.4 |
| 70-70 (50.0%) | Starting QB Record | 68-72-1 (48.6%) |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
When you normalize for games played across a decade, the pair have relatively similar total passing numbers, though Testaverde was still the bigger gunslinger, i.e. more touchdowns, but also more picks; even at their best, both were still pretty much .500 quarterbacks.
My Thoughts
When you think about the best/most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history, it is unlikely that Kerry Collins and Vinny Testaverde are among the first names that come to mind; yet check the career passing charts and lo and behold, due to their longevity and the relatively pass-happy eras they played in, each is still in the top 20-25 all-time. While I certainly would not consider either of them an all-time legend, sometimes the best ability is availability and so in that context, both quarterbacks had excellent careers. Having said all that, between the two, my clear choice is Testaverde – even in his Pro Bowl seasons, Collins’ numbers were good, but never spectacular and I do no think there was any season in which he could be considered elite; in contrast, when surrounded by talent, Testaverde’s skills really shined, e.g. with the Ravens and the Jets, he was an elite quarterback, albeit for a brief period of time. True, Testaverde’s performance had much greater variability and he was much more likely to turn the ball over, but the flip side of that is he was also much more likely to produce big plays with his arm. In summary, in my view, while you might pick Collins as your quarterback to not lose a game, Testaverde is the one you would pick to win a game.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Vinny Testaverde
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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