Skip to content

Ex-Rep. Heath Shuler Earns Dubious Football Distinction

Shuler put his football skills to use as a member of Congress. (CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Shuler put his football skills to use as a member of Congress. (CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Ex-Rep. Heath Shuler is associated with two franchises that have their public relations challenges: Congress and Washington’s NFL franchise. It’s his time as quarterback in D.C. that has earned him further ignominy, though.  

According to The Washington Post’s Fancy Stats , the North Carolina Democrat is the Washington pro-football team’s worst quarterback. Ever. Or at least since 1970’s NFL-AFL merger. Fair or not, Fancy Stats uses something called “adjusted net yards per attempt above average,” which takes a quarterback’s time just in D.C. and “adjusts for yardage lose due to sacks and rewards passers for scorind with a multiplier on touchdowns and penalizes them for throwing interceptions.”  

However it stacks up, Shuler’s “minus-549.1 adjusted net yards” scrapes the bottom of a barrel of sad Washington quarterbacks: Past-their-primers like Donovan McNabb (minus-174.6 adjusted net yards, good for 10th-worst) and Jeff Hostetler (minus-283.7 adjusted net yards, sixth worst), young-going-somewheres such as Stan Humphries (minus 303 adjusted net yards) and never-weres such as Patrick Ramsey (minus 456.22 adjusted net yards, third worst) and John Beck (minus-213.8 adjusted net yards, seventh-worst).  

Shuler was worst by a country mile, or long field goal in this case. The second-worst Washington quarterback, Rex Grossman, came in at minus-493.32 adjusted net yards.  

Good thing Shuler retired before any opponents could use this for research.  


The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call in your inbox or on your iPhone.

Recent Stories

House Republicans kick Pelosi out of hideaway after McCarthy ouster

House Republican infighting turns raw during McCarthy floor debate

McCarthy announces he won’t run again for speaker

How the vote to boot Speaker McCarthy played out inside the chamber

McCarthy becomes first speaker in history ousted

Laphonza Butler sworn in to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein