Rich Gannon

Richard Joseph Gannon (born December 20, 1965) is an American former football quarterback who played 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL).

Subsequently, he was a sports commentator with CBS Sports for 16 years.

Gannon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and played college football at the University of Delaware where he directed coach Tubby Raymond's Wing-T offense.

He recorded at least 2,000 offensive yards for three straight seasons at Delaware and was Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Year as a senior.

As a sophomore, Gannon won the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I-AA Rookie of the Year award in 1984.

In 1986, during his senior season, Gannon won Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors and was an honorable mention All-American selection.

In the 1987 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots selected Gannon in the fourth round intent upon converting Gannon to running back.

Gannon was selected in the fourth round (98th overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, who envisioned converting him to a running back, defensive back, or wide receiver.

Gannon balked at the idea, and he was quickly traded to the Minnesota Vikings.

Gannon began his career with the Vikings as a backup to starting quarterback Wade Wilson.

Gannon played four regular and one postseason games in his rookie season of 1987 and accumulated statistics in the Week 10 (November 22) game, a 24–13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons where he completed 2 of 6 passes for 18 yards.

Despite the Vikings finishing just above .500 on the season at 8–7, they unexpectedly won their first two postseason games, though Gannon was lightly used in the playoffs, rushing for 3 yards in the Vikings' Wild Card game, a 44–10 win over the New Orleans Saints on the road.

That game was the first playoff game in Saints team history.

The Cinderella Vikings eventually lost the NFC championship game to the eventual Super Bowl XXII champion Washington Redskins.

Improving from 1987, the 1988 Vikings finished 11–5 and advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs.

Gannon did not play at all during the regular season, during which the Vikings went 10–6.

In the Vikings' postseason divisional playoff game, a 41–13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Vikings used all three quarterbacks (Wilson, Kramer, and Gannon), and Gannon was 13-for-18 passing for 144 yards and 1 interception.

For the 1988 season, Gannon was third-string after Wade Wilson and Tommy Kramer.

Gannon played three games in 1988.

In a Week 5 (October 2) 24–7 loss to the Miami Dolphins, Gannon completed 7 of 15 passes for 90 yards but was sacked twice for 15.

He also rushed twice for 15 yards.

Gannon took a knee in the Vikings' Week 8 (October 23) victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In Week 10 (November 6), Gannon was sacked for 7 yards and rushed for 15 yards in a 44–17 win over the Detroit Lions.

Gannon started his first games in 1990 in relief of an injured Wilson and would start many games in 1991.

He was soon traded to the Minnesota Vikings and would play with the Vikings until 1992.

Gannon began his career as a backup for Wade Wilson.

In 1992, he formally became the starting quarterback for the Vikings and led the Vikings to an 11–5 season and the playoffs after two consecutive losing seasons.

Gannon played with the Washington Redskins in 1993, the Kansas City Chiefs from 1995 to 1998, and the Oakland Raiders from 1999 to 2004.

With the Raiders, he achieved his greatest successes, including four consecutive seasons making the Pro Bowl (1999–2002), three consecutive postseason appearances for the Raiders (2000–2002), two All-Pro selections (2000, 2002), one MVP, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003.

However, Gannon spent much of his final two seasons (2003 and 2004) with injuries, and the Raiders had losing records in those seasons.

When he led the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, he was the second player from the University of Delaware to go to the Super Bowl.

After retiring from football before the 2005 season, Gannon began a career in sports broadcasting.

He served as a sports analyst for NFL on CBS through the 2020 NFL season.

Gannon attended Saint Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and won three varsity letters each in football and crew, and twice in basketball.

In his senior season, he won first team All-City as a punter and quarterback.

He threw for 1,567 yards his senior season.

Gannon attended the University of Delaware where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

In football, he was coached by Tubby Raymond and played within Raymond's wing T offense.

With the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team, Gannon first played as a punter before switching to quarterback in sophomore year.

Gannon set 21 school records, including total offense (7,432 yards), passing yards (5,927), pass attempts (845), and completions (462) and was the only Delaware player at the time to achieve at least 2,000 yards of offense three years in a row.