In 1973, the 14 AFC teams housed 8 Hall of Fame quarterbacks. The AFC East had Joe Namath and Bob Griese with the Jets and Dolphins, the AFC Central had Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw, and the AFC West had five HOF QBs: Len Dawson was with the Chiefs, while the Chargers had a first-year Dan Fouts and a last-year Johnny Unitas. The Raiders? They had Ken Stabler and George Blanda. And in the NFC, Sonny Jurgensen and Roger Staubach were the signal callers for Washington and Dallas, while Fran Tarkenton was the Vikings quarterback. That means the ’73 NFL (along with the ’70 and ’71 versions, which didn’t have Fouts but did have Bart Starr) housed 11 future Hall of Fame passers. And that excludes Ken Anderson, of course, who entered the league in ’71.

Meanwhile, in ’81 and ’82 — at a time, I’ll note, when Ken Anderson was doing pretty darn well — there were just four active HOF QBs. Stabler, who finally made it as a seniors’ nominee last year, Fouts, Bradshaw, and Joe Montana. On average, there have been about 7-8 active HOF quarterbacks at any one time.

Year Act HOF QBs 1997 6 1996 7 1995 7 1994 8 1993 8 1992 8 1991 7 1990 7 1989 7 1988 6 1987 7 1986 7 1985 6 1984 6 1983 6 1982 4 1981 4 1980 5 1979 6 1978 6 1977 7 1976 7 1975 9 1974 10 1973 11 1972 10 1971 11 1970 11 1969 9 1968 8 1967 8 1966 7 1965 7 1964 7 1963 7 1962 8 1961 8 1960 8 1959 7 1958 8 1957 8 1956 6 1955 5 1954 5 1953 5 1952 7 1951 7 1950 8

Whether that number is high or low is up to you, and of course being “active” is different than being a starter, which is different from being a productive starter. But it does help to put some guidelines around things when discussing HOF quarterbacks, as we did two days ago.