A familiar face to Bucs fans was thrust into the NFC Championship Game
By Josh Hill
Any Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans watching the NFC Championship Game on Sunday had an Obi-Wan Kenobi moment.
When San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy left the game in the first quarter after suffering a forearm and elbow injury, Josh Johnson entered the game.
Josh Johnson. Now that’s a name Bucs fans haven’t heard since…
Since Jon Gruden was the head coach in Tampa Bay. Johnson was among the last batch of quarterbacks Gruden brought in to try and find the right guy to run his offense, but he didn’t stick around long enough to see how things panned out.
Johnson, on the other hand, was in Tampa for what amounts to his longest single stint with an NFL team. After being drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft, Johnson was in the Bucs quarterback room for five seasons before embarking on a true journeyman adventure around all levels of North American football.
Josh Johnson called into NFC Championship Game after Brock Purdy injury
All of the quarterback narratives heading into Sunday were focused on Brock Purdy, and rightfully so. Purdy, the last pick in this year’s NFL Draft, was making just his eighth start of his career and doing so with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
But it turns out there were two quarterbacks with crazy stories on the 49ers sideline. We found that out when Purdy was taken out of the game before it even had a chance to begin.
Purdy was hit by Hasson Reddick, forcing a fumble and injuring the Niners’ quarterback in the process. It was Purdy’s forearm that seemed to take the worst of the hit, but San Francisco called it an elbow injury.
It honestly didn’t seem like much of anything in the moment, but Niners doctors immediately checked out Purdy on the sideline. It wasn’t long after that FOX cameras caught Purdy seemingly telling Kyle Shanahan that he could throw the ball.
With Purdy out, Josh Johnson entered the game.
Josh Johnson career history: Where has 49ers quarterback played?
It’s less a question of where has Josh Johnson played and more where hasn’t he played? Buccaneers fans will remember his name, but he debuted with the team all the way back in 2008. Johnson was one of the last draft picks Jon Gruden made in Tampa, which seems like eons ago — and is an objectively long time in football years.
After he left Tampa Bay in 2012, Johnson bounced around the league — and North American football — before ending up under center for the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
Here’s a quick rundown of where Johnson has played since being drafted by the Buccaneers:
- Buccaneers (2008-2012)
- 49ers (2012; 2014; 2020-2021; 2022-Present)
- Sacramento Mountain Lions (2012)
- Cleveland Browns (2013)
- Cincinnati Bengals (2013; 2014)
- New York Jets (2014; 2021)
- Indianapolis Colts (2015)
- Buffalo Bills (2015)
- Baltimore Ravens (2016; 2021)
- New York Giants (2016)
- Houston Texans (2017)
- Oakland Raiders (2018)
- Washington Commanders (2018)
- San Diego Fleet (2019)
- Los Angeles Wildcats (2020)
- Denver Broncos (2022)
To be fair, Johnson was only on training camp rosters for the 49ers (2014; 2021-22), Bengals (2015), Jets (2015), Ravens (2016), and Raiders (2018).
But for as long as he has stuck around football, he hasn’t lost much off of his fastball. He led the XFL in passing back in 2020, and was on an NFL roster this season before moving to San Francisco.
Josh Johnson contract: What is Josh Johnson salary with 49ers?
Johnson signed a 1 year, $1.2 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers this season, but he’s made more than enough money throughout his career.
His total career earnings are in the neighborhood of $8.4 million according to OverTheCap, which isn’t bad at all. Consider that Johnson hasn’t had the sort of career as a backup that guys like Chase Daniel or Geno Smith had, where they were legit No. 2 options on the depth chart and were given chances to start.