For one reason or another, the NFL Network is broadcasting flag football games with the American Flag Football League. It has been a minor amusement and about the closest thing that we have to football going on right this very second. But I couldn’t help but notice that one game pitted two former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks against one another.
One of those quarterbacks was Michael Vick, who spent the 2015 season with the Steelers. He was not in the team’s plans initially, but when backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski suffered a season-ending injury during the preseason, they gave him a call, and then a contract, immediately stepping into that backup role.
He did not play very well when given the chance, and it was the last time he played as well. His flag football team lost its game, and he declared it’s the last he would play. But it’s not the last he will see of football, because starting soon, he will be the offensive coordinator of one of the Alliance of American Football’s teams, based in Atlanta.
So then the last ‘football’ game he will have ever played will result in a defeat against an opposing quarterback who never played in the regular season. That would be Jerrod Johnson, who was most recently with the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens on their offseason roster or practice squad in 2016.
But he also spent one offseason and training camp with the Steelers back in 2012, and frankly he is one of the number-four quarterbacks who sticks out to me more than the vast majority of them have over the years. Certainly more memorable than Bart Houston or John Parker Wilson.
At Texas A&M, Johnson completed 650 of 1109 pass attempts for 8011 yards, throwing 67 touchdown passes to 27 interceptions. He also ran for 877 yards and scored 16 touchdowns on the ground. Going undrafted in 2011 by the NFL, he was the first-overall selection of the United Football League. The team that he signed went out of business, however.
Long story short, he eventually found his way to Pittsburgh the following year and played behind Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, and Charlie Batch. During the preseason in 2012, he completed 14 of 21 pass attempts for 236 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, posting a 136.2 quarterback rating.
He never would make it onto a 53-man roster, also spending time with the Eagles, Seahawks, and Bears, as well as teams in other leagues, including the Montreal Alouettes in 2014 for the CFL. A couple of nights ago, he played with Chad Ochocinco to beat Vick’s flag football team.
The summer flag football league is an elimination tournament, and their team will play its next game tonight, facing the team of former Ravens running back Justin Forsett.
.@JerrodJohnson1‘s @FlagFootball highlights from Saturday in Atlanta! #AFFL pic.twitter.com/VVjcaZsV9f
— NFL (@NFL) July 8, 2018
