When you look up the definition of journeyman type of player, they have to show a picture of Josh McCown. The man has a closet filled with multiple jerseys from throughout the NFL. A few years back, his children were wearing his different jerseys for Halloween. You might need quarterback Phillip Rivers’ services, who can mass produce children, to keep up with the towns McCown has played for in over a 17 year career. That’s ten NFL cities. You can include the United Football League as number 11 as he played for the Hartford Colonials. Perhaps that league was renting the uniforms to stay above water. McCown, like a band on a tour, might have performed in your town at some point and put on a good show. He’s hanging up the spikes for good and calling it a career in the NFL

Josh McCown is no Tom Brady. He’s a guy that was a late bloomer when it comes to his performance on the field. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 2002. He is officially the last player from the 2002 draft. Oh are we all getting too old. After 4 years in cactus land, then to “motor city.’ He then hung out with the people from Mad Max in Oakland. Next, across the country to visit Carolina. Sharpen up his skills in Hartford in the UFL. Then went back to California to hang out with Uncle Jesse at the bay for the 49ers. Finally he reached Chicago for stuffed crust pizza. It was Chicago where he really resurrected his career. You could say he even arrived in this league as a guy that can be a starter.

In 2013, as we go back in the time machine to the dark days of Chicago football. Back when Jay Cutler was the starting quarterback for the Bears. Jay Cutler was showing people he was a guy that does not have any heart or desire to lead your team to the promised land. It was a town divided with this bar stool conversation every week. Half of the people said Jay Cutler was hot garbage while the other half were delusional. Most of Chicago still has never seen a quarterback. You have to go back to Jim McMahon. Then of course Sid Luckman, from a very long time ago.

Jay Cutler got hurt that season. Then came Josh McCown and he was brilliant. The team went up and down the field. The team won games. It was the way he handled himself in the pocket. The way he commanded the huddle. Some people were like, “Who the hell is this guy?” Some people did not like what was going on, especially the Bears brass. The locker room was divided and they rushed Jay Cutler back on the field. They even gave Jay Cutler a contract extension. If the Bears rode the hot hand the rest of the season, perhaps they could have made the playoffs. Then maybe the Bears would have never extended Jay Cutler’s contract and those black clouds above Soldier’s field would not have haunted this team. They brought more years to come of lousy football with a guy who did not even give two craps about your team or your city. He was happy to cash the checks. Surprises me still today that there’s a few of those Jay Cutler people that have a blind eye to who he really was and how he played with the tools he had.

Since the Bears’ stupid front office at the time locked up Jay Cutler, they could not bring back Josh McCown. Being in the Bears uniform and the way he played did Josh McCown well, because then he got a big contract with the Buccaneers. He got hurt down in Florida. Then he went to Cleveland. So Josh McCown can say he played for two cities that were starving for decades at the time for a quarterback, Cleveland and Chicago. The way players behind center rotated in and out every season to be on a never-ending Santa Clause list in Cleveland and Chicago. Josh played well in Cleveland, but they did not have a balanced roster of quality players. Many holes. Just like in New York where the Jets signed Josh McCown to his final team and city on that long journey through the NFL.

McCown got more starts at the end of his tenure, than in the beginning. He had some monster games. He brought his team back and had some great winning drives as the field general. Could this whole journey as a back up most of his career and still seeing many games as a starter continue to help him after his playing days? Plus filling in when your number is called due to injury or the ineffectiveness of someone else’s play. Plus he was the only guy to be actually friends with Jay Cutler as a quarterback teammate. Cutler did not like anybody in the room besides himself. Then how he helped the young Sam Darnold in New York develop. This journey will not be the end of Josh McCown as he might go down a road as a coach. He could be a broadcaster.He knows the x’s and o’s of the game. He lived on the bubble trying to make a team’s roster. He can break down other quarterbacks’ mechanics like their foot work and their throws. Maybe he could be the one to develop the next Patrick Mahomes. He might be on your television breaking down the play of your city’s quarterback next season. Whatever he does, he will do it with heart and desire, which he showed you during 17 years performing live in your town on Sunday afternoons.