Jake Plummer

Jason Steven "Jake" Plummer (born on December 19, 1974 in Boise, Idaho) is a former American football quarterback whose rights are held by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arizona State.

After a 2007 offseason trade to the Buccaneers, Plummer failed to report to the team and announced his intention to retire. He is currently listed as retired with the NFL after his settlement with the Buccaneers.His nickname given to him was Jake "the Snake", named after professional wrestler Jake "the Snake" Roberts. Coincidentally, Roberts adopted that nickname as a tribute to his favorite NFL player, former Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, who was often nicknamed "the Snake".

Arizona Cardinals

1997 was an up and down year. He finished 4-8 as a starter, and the Cardinals went 6-10 to finish 4th in the NFC East. In 1998, he led the Cardinals to a 9-7 regular season record and a playoff berth. In 2000, Plummer threw for 2,946 yards, 21 interceptions, and had a 66.0 quarterback rating. He reached 10,000 career passing yards through 47 starts. In his 14 starts, he compiled a 3-11 record and the Cardinals finished 3-13, in last place in the NFC East.

2001 was Plummer's best season to that point. He was one of only two quarterbacks to take every snap for his team (Kerry Collins was the other), and he passed for 3,653 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. He had a stretch of 142 consecutive pass attempts without throwing an interception. The streak was snapped on January 6, 2002, when Plummer threw an interception to rookie Redskin linebacker Antonio Pierce. Plummer led the NFL in fourth-quarter passing yards (1,227) and led the Cardinals to a 7-9 record, and a 4th place in the NFC East.

Plummer's last season with the Cardinals was 2002. His statistics were below league average (53.6 passer rating, 2,972 yards, 18 touchdowns and 20 interceptions). He eclipsed the 15,000 passing yard mark against the San Diego Chargers on September 22.


Denver Broncos

Plummer signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos in 2003, replacing Brian Griese. With the instruction of Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, Plummer had his best season to date, finishing the season with a career high 91.2 rating. He had the longest run by a Broncos QB on Monday Night Football, 40 yards against the Oakland Raiders. He led the Broncos to a wild card playoff berth, where the Broncos were beaten by the Indianapolis Colts 41-10 at the RCA Dome.

2004 was a roller coaster ride for Plummer. One of his closest friends and former teammates, Pat Tillman, was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Along with matching or surpassing some of former Broncos QB John Elway's passing records (including passing yardage and passing touchdowns in a single season), he also threw for 20 interceptions. He led the Broncos to a second straight wild card playoff berth, but the Broncos were again beaten by the Colts, 49-24.

In 2005, Plummer experienced his best season as a professional. Most notable was his streak of 229 passes without an interception, the longest such streak of his career. Plummer helped the Broncos compile a 13-3 record, making the Broncos the #2 team in the AFC (behind the Colts), earning the Broncos a first-round bye. The Broncos' first game was against the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Game at Invesco Field. Plummer's performance (15-26 for 197 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception) helped the Broncos to become the first team to defeat the Patriots in the past 11 postseason games. In the AFC Championship, Plummer and the Broncos were defeated 34-17 by the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Plummer the cause of 4 Denver turnovers.

On November 27, 2006, after a lackluster performance throughout the first eleven games of the regular season, and directly following back to back losses to the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs, Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan announced that Plummer would be replaced as starting quarterback by rookie Jay Cutler. The decision to hand a 7-4 team over to a rookie quarterback was met by fans and media with mixed reactions. Those who viewed Plummer as inconsistent heralded the change as one that would revive the Broncos struggling offense; others claimed such a move was ill-advised, especially given that Plummer had guided the Broncos to the AFC Championship game the year before.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Following the end of the regular season, Plummer was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on March 3, 2007 for a 2008 conditional draft pick - however, a very short time later, rumors began to surface that Plummer was going to choose retirement over competition with Buccaneers quarterbacks Bruce Gradkowski, Tim Rattay, Jeff Garcia, and Luke McCown.

On March 9th, Plummer ended the speculation surrounding him by announcing his decision to retire at a live press conference. Plummer also confirmed his retirement through the Jake Plummer Foundation's website. Though he had announced his retirement, he was still under contract to the Buccaneers; thus, Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden met with Plummer to try to convince him to play in the 2007 season. The attempt was unsuccessful. As he did not show up for 2007 training camp, the Buccaneers sued for recovery of his signing bonus. A settlement was reached on June 10, 2008 requiring Plummer to pay back $3.5 million to the Buccaneers.

Jake Plummer #16
Quarterback