If Ryan Fitzpatrick ends up being the starting quarterback for the Washington Football Team this season, there’s a chance he could end up breaking an ugly NFL record.
Over the course of his career, Fitzpatrick has lost to 28 different NFL teams and if things go sideways this season, that number could shoot up to 31, which would set the NFL record. As things currently stand, there are seven different quarterbacks who have all lost to 30 different teams.
Those seven quarterbacks include everyone from a Hall of Famer (Brett Favre) to a likely Hall of Famer (Drew Brees) plus three players who were selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft (Drew Bledsoe, Carson Palmer, Alex Smith). Besides those five, Matt Hasselbeck and Jon Kitna have also lost to 30 different teams, according to Pro Football Reference.
Quarterbacks who have lost to 30 different teamsTeams QB never lost to in regular season
Drew Brees
Saints, Chargers
Brett Favre
Texans, Washington
Matt Hasselbeck
Lions, Seahawks
Jon Kitna
Bengals, Texans
Drew Bledsoe
Cardinals, Chargers
Alex Smith
Browns, Dolphins
Carson Palmer
Bears, Washington
The fact that Favre and Brees are on this list isn’t all that surprising and that’s because both quarterbacks played for so long. On the other hand, it is somewhat surprising to see Kitna’s name and that’s because he only started a total of 124 games in his career (Every other QB on this list had at least 160 career starts).
Going into 2021 season, there are four teams that Fitzpatrick has never lost to – the Lions, Packers, Saints or Buccaneers – but that could be changing this year. Washington is scheduled to play three of those four teams (Green Bay, New Orleans and Tampa Bay) and if Fitzpatrick loses to all three, he’ll become the first quarterback in NFL history to lose to 31 different teams. Also, Washington is scheduled to play the Lions in 2022, so if Fitzpatrick sticks around that long, he could conceivably become the first QB to lose to every team and that could happen before the end of the 2022 season.
Besides Fitzpatrick, there are only five other active quarterbacks who have lost to at least 27 teams and that list includes Derek Carr (28), Matt Ryan (28), Joe Flacco (28), Ben Roethlisberger (28) and Tom Brady (27).
Out of that list, three of those quarterbacks – Ryan, Brady and Flacco – could end the year with at least one career loss to 30 different teams. Brady has never lost to the Falcons, Cowboys, Vikings, Patriots or Buccaneers, which is one reason why the front end of Tampa Bay’s schedule is so interesting this year. In the first four weeks of the season, Brady will be facing three of those teams (Cowboys in Week 1, Falcons in Week 2, Patriots in Week 4), so he could join Brees and Favre at the 30-loss mark before we event get to Week 5.
Of course, Brady has played for so long that it’s not a huge surprise that he’s lost to so many teams. The upside for Brady is that he could actually join a much more distinguished list this year. If he beats the Patriots in Week 4, he’ll become just the fourth QB in NFL history to beat all 32 teams. As for Fitzpatrick, that’s probably not a list he’ll ever be joining. The Washington quarterback has only beaten 22 of the NFL’s 32 teams.
