Norm Snead

Norman Bailey Snead (July 31, 1939 – January 14, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL).

He played for the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers.

Unfortunately, the team was in the middle of a Dark Age, as they had not had a winning season since 1956 nor made a playoff game since 1946.

He graduated in 1957.

Snead attended Wake Forest University, where he set 15 conference single-games, season and career passing records.

His passing statistics with the Demon Deacons included:

In 1958, Snead was named the second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference quarterback, and in 1959 and 1960 he earned first-team All-ACC honors.

In 1960, Snead was named second-team All-American as a quarterback by UPI and the Football Writers Association of America.

He played college football for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and was selected in the first round of the 1961 NFL Draft with the second overall pick.

Snead grew up in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Hugh, a farmer, and Louise Snead.

He attended Warwick High School, where he was a star three-sport (basketball, football, and baseball) athlete.

Snead won all six pitching decisions as a sophomore and junior, and he averaged 23 points in basketball as a senior, scoring 41 in one game.

He split time as starting quarterback as a junior, then as a senior he passed for nearly 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns.

In a game against Hampton, Snead threw what would be the game-winning touchdown pass, then intercepted a pass on Hampton's next series to seal the outcome.

He was named second-team all-state.

Starting with a new coach in Bill McPeak, Snead would start in each game for 1961, which proved to a miserable one.

Snead would have three games with at least three interceptions as the team did not win a game until the season finale against the up-start Dallas Cowboys.

Snead threw eleven touchdowns to 22 interceptions for 2,337 yards.

He was in the top ten for pass attempts, completions, yards, and interceptions (3rd, 4th, 6th, and 3rd, respectively).

Snead would improve slightly for the next season, as he would throw for 2,926 yards with 22 touchdowns and interceptions as he won five games for the Redskins, and it was good enough for a selection to the Pro Bowl.

The next season was his last with the Redskins, and it was a miserable one.

In a 3–11 season, he threw for 3,043 yards (the first of two 3,000-yard seasons) while throwing 13 touchdowns and 27 interceptions (a league high), but he was nevertheless selected to the Pro Bowl once again.

His highlight game in yards came against the Pittsburgh Steelers, as he threw for 424 yards for the only 400-yard game of his career in a 34–28 loss.

After the season, he was moved to the Philadelphia Eagles for Sonny Jurgensen and Claude Crabb.

In seven seasons with the Eagles, Snead was the primary starter for each season (starting 81 of 98 possible games), although the result would be that Snead was part of another team in a decades-long slump.

Snead started the first nine games of his first season with the team before starting one of the final five games.

He threw for 1,096 yards while throwing fourteen touchdowns to twelve interceptions as the Eagles won six games.

Snead was named to the Pro Bowl on four occasions: in 1962, 1963, 1965, and in 1972, during the last of which he led the NFL in completion percentage and was second in passer rating.

Snead was drafted by both the National Football League and the American Football League, and Snead elected to join the Redskins, who drafted him as the 2nd overall pick.

The Eagles continued their spin in 1965, as Snead started ten games and won four while throwing 2,346 yards for fifteen touchdowns to thirteen interceptions and garnered a Pro Bowl selection.

For 1966, he went 5-5 but the Eagles won four games without him as starter to finish 2nd in their division.

It was the first of just three seasons that Snead would play on a team with a winning season.

The game against the St. Louis Cardinals was the worst of his career, as he threw a career high five interceptions while going 16-of-45 for 247 yards.

He threw eight touchdowns to eleven interceptions for 1,275 yards (throwing for over 200 yards just once in his starts).

In 1967, he returned to start each game and threw 29 touchdowns to 24 interceptions while going for 3,399 yards (a career high) as the team went 6-7-1.

However, the next three seasons were a return to misery, as he won just nine of his 35 starts and was outmatched in interceptions to touchdowns each time.

He led the league in interceptions twice during that span.

However, Snead was traded away after the 1970 season, going to a growing power in Minnesota, who at that time had just Gary Cuozzo as quarterback.

He was traded from the Eagles to the Vikings for Steve Smith, second- and sixth-round selections in 1971 (50th and 154th overall–Hank Allison and Mississippi defensive back Wyck Neely respectively) and a 1972 third-round pick (76th overall–Bobby Majors) on January 28, 1971.

In 1984, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.