This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
While the modern NFL game features a growing number of dual-threat quarterbacks (think Patrick Maholmes, Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, Cam Newton, Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, etc.), signal callers who can make plays with both their arm and their legs were not always in such high demand. Nevertheless, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the league began to see an influx of multi-talented quarterbacks such as Kordell Stewart, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and Steve McNair, just to name a few. In particular, McNabb and McNair, though never quite as flashy as some of their peers (e.g. Vick) each became consistent Pro Bowl quarterbacks capable of leading their respective teams to the Super Bowl. With similar and overlapping NFL careers, let us look back upon these pioneer dual-threat quarterbacks and ask the question:
Who was better – Donovan McNabb or Steve McNair?
The Beginning
Both McNabb and McNair were all-around sports stars in high school who went on to have record-setting college careers and were then able to parlay that success into being high first-round draft picks and eventual franchise cornerstone quarterbacks.
A native of Chicago, McNabb was a multi-sport high school star – in addition to winning a state title in football, he also played basketball and did track and field. Despite being a successful high school quarterback, he was only recruited by two schools to play quarterback (Syracuse and Nebraska) and ultimately chose to attend Syracuse. Following a redshirt year, McNabb started every game for the Orangemen for four straight seasons and earned a slew of honors, including Big East Rookie of the Year, 3x First Team All-Big East, 3x Big East Offensive Player of the Year, 1998 Heisman Trophy finalist (won by Ricky Williams), and eventually, Big East Offensive Player of the Decade for the 1990s; at the same time, he walked on to the basketball team and was even part of the 1996 team that made it to the National Championship. As a result of his brilliant collegiate career, McNabb was drafted second overall in the 1999 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles (behind #1 overall pick and fellow quarterback Tim Couch, who ended up being a bust for the Cleveland Browns) and started six games with a 2-4 record as a rookie, completing 49.1% of his passes for 948 yards with 8 touchdowns vs. 7 interceptions (60.1 QB rating) and adding 313 yards on the ground.
Similarly, McNair did football, baseball, basketball, and track and field while growing up in Mississippi, earning All-State and Super Prep All-American honors in football while being drafted in the 35th round of the 1991 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners. Though Florida offered him a scholarship at running back, he instead chose Division I-AA Alcorn State University to play quarterback. A four-year starter at Alcorn State, McNair was an annual First Team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) selection and in his senior year in 1994, accumulated a ridiculous 5,377 passing yards and 904 rushing yards with 56 touchdowns to earn All-American honors, win the Walter Payton Award as top player in Division I-AA, and finish third for the Heisman Trophy; overall, he set then-Division I-AA (nown known as Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS) records for offensive yards and passing yards. Drafted third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft by the then-Houston Oilers, McNair was at that point, the highest drafted African-American quarterback in league history (McNabb was later drafted second, and Vick, JaMarcus Russell, Newton, Jameis Winston, and Murray have all been drafted #1 overall as of the 2020 NFL Draft). Nevertheless, with veteran quarterback Chris Chandler at the helm, McNair played sparingly in his first two seasons, starting a combined six games and going 2-4 with 9 passing touchdowns vs. 5 interceptions while showing glimpses of his dual-threat ability.
Career Comparison
In their respective primes, McNabb and McNair were among the best quarterbacks in the NFL – while neither was ever necessarily a truly prolific passer (e.g. neither had a 4,000-yard season), they were prototype dual-threat quarterbacks and winners who were MVP-caliber players at their peak.
Taking over as the Eagles’ full-time starter in 2000, McNabb completed 58.0% of his passes for 3,365 yards with 21 touchdowns vs. 13 interceptions for a 77.8 QB rating, and added a career-high 629 yards and 6 touchdowns rushing to lead Philadelphia to an 11-5 record; moreover, he earned the first of five straight Pro Bowl selections (6x overall) and finished second for league MVP to Marshall Faulk. Following a similar season in 2001 with an identical 11-5 record, he was limited to only 10 games in 2002 due to a broken ankle, though still managed to tie a career-high with 6 rushing touchdowns. McNabb bounced back from injury to lead the Eagles to a 12-4 record in 2003 with 3,216 passing yards (57.5% completion), 16 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions for a 79.6 QB rating, as well as 355 rushing yards with 3 touchdowns. With the addition of mercurial Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens in 2005, he had arguably his best individual season while also guiding the team to a 13-2 starting record: 3,875 yards on a career-high 64.0% completion rate with a career-best 31 touchdowns vs. only 8 interceptions for a career-high 104.7 QB rating, plus 220 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Coming off a career year, though, McNabb would be plagued by injuries over the next few seasons – an injured groin followed by a torn ACL and meniscus limited him to just 19 out of a possible 32 games in 2005 and 2006 with essentially a .500 record. Returning to play 14 games in 2007, this would mark the first of four straight 3,000-yard passing seasons, though he did not run as much as in his younger days; in fact, in 2008, McNabb had a career-high 3,916 passing yards (60.4% completion) with 23 touchdowns vs. 11 interceptions for an 86.4 QB rating and a 9-6-1 record. A final Pro Bowl season ensued in 2009 on the strength of 60.3% passing for 3,553 yards and 22 touchdowns vs. 10 interceptions (92.9 QB rating) with a 10-4 record; during the season, he also reached the career milestones of 30,000 passing yards and 200 touchdowns.
However, this would be McNabb’s last season in Philadelphia as he was traded to the rival Washington Redskins for a second-round draft pick in the 2010 NFL Draft and a conditional mid-round pick in 2011. Despite throwing for 3,300+ yards in Washington, McNabb tossed more picks than touchdowns and struggled through a 5-8 record, prompting the team to trade him after one season to the Minnesota Vikings for a pair of sixth-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013. In Minnesota, he struggled through a 1-5 start before relinquishing the starting quarterback role to rookie Christian Ponder and would be released, never playing another NFL snap; McNabb officially retired in 2013 as a member of the Eagles, leaving his mark as the franchise leader in most career passing categories and top-10 all-time in rushing yards for quarterbacks.
As for McNair, he took over as starting quarterback when the Oilers moved to Tennessee in 1997, completing 52.0% of passes for 2,665 yards with 14 touchdown vs. 13 interceptions for a 70.4 QB rating and an 8-8 record; moreover, with career-highs of 674 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns, he set the third-highest single-season rushing total for a signal-caller at the time, behind only Bobby Douglass (968) and Randall Cunningham (942). This was followed by another 8-8 season in 1998, with McNair improving to 3,228 passing yards. Then, in 1999, with the team renaming itself as the Titans, he missed five games with injury, but came back to lead the team to a 9-2 record in 11 starts, in the process throwing for 2,179 yards (56.5% completion) with 12 touchdowns and 8 interceptions (78.6 QB rating), and running for 337 yards and 8 touchdowns. McNair further built upon this success and earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 2000: 62.6% passing for 2,847 yards with 15 touchdowns and 13 interceptions (83.2 QB rating), plus 403 rushing yards, while leading Tennessee to a 12-3 record.
Starting in 2001, McNair would have his best statistical years as a passer, compiling three consecutive seasons of 3,000+ passing yards and 20+ touchdowns, including a career-best 3,387 passing yards in 2002. Overall, his best individual season came in 2003 – despite missing two games late in the year, McNair threw for 3,215 yards on a 62.5% completion rate, had a career-high 24 passing touchdowns vs. only 7 interceptions for an NFL-leading and career-best 100.4 QB rating, and rushed for 138 yards and 4 touchdowns to guide the team to a 10-4 record; as a result, he was a Second Team All-Pro selection and shared MVP honors with Peyton Manning and at the same time, was the youngest player in league history to reach 20,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards.
As an encore to his MVP campaign, McNair was limited to just eight games played the next year, but rebounded in 2005 with a third and final Pro Bowl season: 3,161 passing yards (61.3% completion) with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, good for an 82.4 QB rating, but only a 4-10 record. With the Titans in rebuilding mode, McNair was traded to the Baltimore Ravens in 2006 for a 2007 fourth-round draft pick and had a strong first season, completing 63.0% of passes for 3,050 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions (82.5 QB rating), and leading the team to a 13-3 record. After being limited to only six games in the 2007 season, McNair retired at age 34; sadly, he was killed just a couple of years later in a tragic murder-suicide.
Overall, both McNabb and McNair played in the NFL for a baker’s dozen of years (13) and roughly 160-170 games – on the whole, the former was the more prolific passer, while the latter was a slightly better runner; passing-wise, McNabb had eight 3,000-yard seasons to McNair’s six and threw for 20+ touchdowns on more occasions (5x vs. 3x). When you break it down to per-game averages, McNabb put up 223 passing yards and 1.40 touchdowns vs. 0.70 interceptions compared to 194 passing yards and 1.08 touchdowns vs. 0.74 interceptions for McNair. Though McNabb earned more Pro Bowl selections during their careers (6 to 3), it is McNair who has the MVP award on his mantle (McNabb was runner-up once). As field generals, each quarterback won roughly 60% of his starts – between the individual and team success, both have been mentioned as potential Hall of Famers, but each currently sits on the outside looking in as a borderline case.
Regular Season Statistics
| Donovan McNabb | Player | Steve McNair |
| 13 (1999-2011) | Seasons | 13 (1995-2007) |
| 167 | Games Played | 161 |
| 3,170 | Completions | 2,733 |
| 5,374 | Attempts | 4,544 |
| 37,276 | Passing Yards | 31,304 |
| 59.0% | Completion % | 60.1% |
| 234 | Passing Touchdowns | 174 |
| 117 | Interceptions | 119 |
| 85.6 | QB Rating | 82.8 |
| 3,459 | Rushing Yards | 3,590 |
| 5.6 | Yards Per Attempt | 5.4 |
| 29 | Rushing Touchdowns | 37 |
| 98-62-1 (61.3%) | Starting QB Record | 91-62 (59.5%) |
| 6x | Pro Bowls | 3x |
| – | All-Pro | – |
| – | MVP | 1x |
| – | Super Bowls | – |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In addition to regular season success with the Eagles and Titans, respectively, McNabb and McNair each guided their teams to the playoffs consistently and made Super Bowl appearances, though both fell just short of winning the Lombardi Trophy in thrilling games.
Despite being heavily criticized for being unable to get the Eagles over the proverbial “hump”, McNabb nevertheless guided the team to seven playoff appearances, including five years in a row in the early 2000s, with five NFC Championship Games. His best effort came in leading Philadelphia to Super Bowl XXXIX vs. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots – in a game where Terrell Owens famously played with a broken leg, McNabb was 30 of 51 for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns vs. 3 interceptions in a heartbreaking 24-21 loss.
Similarly, across five postseason appearances (4x with the Titans, 1x with the Ravens), McNair led Tennessee to Super Bowl XXXIV vs. the Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk-led St. Louis Rams and “The Greatest Show on Turf” offense; in a game best remembered for the final play, in which Rams linebacker Mike Jones made a game-saving tackle on Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson on the one-yard line, McNair was 22 of 36 for 214 yards through the air and added 64 rushing yards in the 23-16 defeat.
Playoff Statistics
| Donovan McNabb | Player | Steve McNair |
| 16 | Games Played | 10 |
| 341 | Completions | 184 |
| 577 | Attempts | 311 |
| 3,752 | Passing Yards | 1,764 |
| 59.1% | Completion % | 59.2% |
| 24 | Passing Touchdowns | 6 |
| 17 | Interceptions | 11 |
| 80.0 | QB Rating | 66.7 |
| 422 | Rushing Yards | 355 |
| 5.9 | Yards Per Attempt | 6.5 |
| 4 | Rushing Touchdowns | 6 |
| 9-7 (56.3%) | Starting QB Record | 5-5 (50.0%) |
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; McNabb’s effectiveness dropped off precipitously after leaving the Eagles, whereas McNair battled nagging injuries throughout his career, even in his prime. 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
| Donovan McNabb | Player | Steve McNair |
| 2000-2009 | Decade of Dominance | 1997-2006 |
| 136 | Games Played | 142 |
| 2,695 | Completions | 2,471 |
| 4,530 | Attempts | 4,116 |
| 31,925 | Passing Yards | 28,425 |
| 59.5% | Completion % | 60.0% |
| 208 | Passing Touchdowns | 163 |
| 93 | Interceptions | 110 |
| 87.8 | QB Rating | 83.0 |
| 2,936 | Rushing Yards | 3,351 |
| 5.6 | Yards Per Attempt | 5.4 |
| 28 | Rushing Touchdowns | 35 |
| 90-45-1 (66.7%) | Starting QB Record | 85-56 (60.3%) |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Again, looking at their decades of dominance, the same themes emerge – McNabb was a better passer, but McNair was a better runner; both were winners, with the former actually increasing his winning percentage to ⅔ of regular season games when you take out his last few years.
My Thoughts
In a way, Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair were a bridge to today’s dynamic quarterbacks; during their playing days, McNabb was often heavily scrutinized and criticized by Eagles fans, while McNair received acclaim for his intangibles and ability to play with a very high pain threshold (as someone who came of age in the 2000s, I remember McNair being “questionable” or “doubtful” week in and week out, yet suiting up nearly every week). Though McNair was the ultimate warrior in terms of toughness and better on his feet in being able to keep plays alive, statistically and objectively, I think McNabb was a slightly better quarterback overall: better passing skills and almost as good with his feet (remember his 4th-and-26 completion to Freddie Mitchell vs. the Green Bay Packers in the 2004 playoffs?), a nominally better winner as starting quarterback, and more consistent playoff success despite the Super Bowl loss. For all the hate he took, McNabb was actually a very good quarterback, though ultimately, I think both he and McNair belong in the “Hall of Very Good”.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Donovan McNabb
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, or any other NFL team in action
- Wear: Buy sports apparel for the Eagles, Titans, or any other NFL team
- Collect: Buy unique sports memorabilia for Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair, or your favorite NFL player(s) or team(s)
- Play: Show off your football knowledge by playing daily fantasy football
- Build: Start your own sports website/blog
Previous
H2H 95: Bob Gibson vs. Tom Seaver
.jpg){kind=link}
