About Josh McCown
Joshua Treadwell McCown (born July 4, 1979) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback. He is the offensive passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). McCown played three seasons of college football for the SMU Mustangs, throwing for 27 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. He then transferred to play his final season of college football for the Sam Houston State Bearkats. In his only season with the Bearkats, he threw for 3,481 yards, 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, earning Southland Football League Player of the Year and third-team Division I-AA All-American honors. McCown was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2002 NFL draft. A journeyman quarterback, McCown was in the NFL for eighteen seasons and was a member of twelve different franchises. He also played one year in the United Football League (UFL). While a backup for the majority of his NFL career, McCown re-emerged into a starting quarterback role after throwing for 1,829 yards, 13 touchdowns, and one interception with the Chicago Bears in 2013 in relief of the injured Jay Cutler. Overall, McCown was the primary starter for the Cardinals in 2004, the Oakland Raiders in 2007, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014, the Cleveland Browns in 2015, and the New York Jets in 2017. With the Jets, he set single-season career highs with 267 completions, a 67.3 completion percentage, 2,926 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns and 5 rushing touchdowns. After the 2018 season, McCown retired from the NFL and briefly joined ESPN as an NFL analyst. However, he came out of retirement to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles in August 2019. In the Wild Card Round of the 2019–20 NFL playoffs, McCown replaced an injured Carson Wentz and played the majority of the game at the age of 40, becoming the oldest quarterback in NFL history to make his postseason debut. In 2020 with the Eagles, McCown became the oldest practice squad player in NFL history and the first NFL player to work remotely. In 2023, he was hired by the Panthers to be their quarterbacks coach under head coach Frank Reich. McCown was fired by the Panthers after a 1–10 start to the season. He became the Vikings' quarterbacks coach in 2024. McCown later said, "My first driver's license said 5-foot-4. McCown was the first freshman to start at quarterback for the team since 1989. He also played basketball and won All-District second-team honors as a shooting guard his senior year. McCown went on to play eighteen seasons in the NFL across twelve franchises.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.