First stint with Minnesota Vikings (1992–1998) 1992–1993 In the
1992 NFL draft, the
Minnesota Vikings drafted Johnson in the ninth round as the 227th overall pick. As third-string quarterback behind starter
Rich Gannon and backup
Sean Salisbury, Johnson dressed for only one game as a rookie in 1992 but did not play. In 1993, Johnson continued to be the third-string quarterback for the first 10 games of the season and was inactive for the final six. Johnson would play in three more games in 1994. In Week 8 (October 30), a 36–13 win over the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Johnson completed 5 of 5 passes for 30 yards. Johnson had his first significant playing time in Week 15 (December 17), a 41–19 loss to the
Detroit Lions. In that game, Johnson completed 14 of 29 passes for 104 yards. Johnson had the most completions of all World League quarterbacks in 1995. Back with the Minnesota Vikings in 1995, Johnson played five games that season. In a 44–24 victory over the
Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4 (September 24), Johnson completed one 36-yard pass. However, Minnesota lost 38–21 to the
Green Bay Packers in Week 7 (October 22), a game in which Johnson completed 10 of 17 passes for 94 yards and one interception. In that game, Johnson also rushed once for 3 yards. In Week 11 (November 19), Johnson completed 5 of 7 passes for 70 yards in the Vikings' 43–24 win over the
New Orleans Saints. Johnson had 9-for-11 passing for 72 yards but one interception in Week 14 (December 9), and Minnesota defeated the
Cleveland Browns 27–11. Overall that game, Johnson completed 16 of 23 passes for 157 yards and rushed three times for 14 yards. Warren Moon would return as starter the following week. Johnson played again in Week 4 with one incomplete pass and saw significant playing time next in Week 8 (October 28), a 15–13 loss to the
Chicago Bears. Again replacing an injured Warren Moon, Johnson completed 10 of 15 passes for 79 yards. In the final play of the game,
Bryan Cox forced a fumble from Johnson. This was Johnson's only lost fumble of Johnson's five fumbles in 1996. Minnesota finished the regular season 9–7, second place in the
NFC Central. Johnson made his postseason debut in the Vikings'
NFC Wild Card game against the
defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys on December 28, 1996. Minnesota lost to Dallas 40–15, as Johnson completed 15 of 27 passes for 208 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions and rushed 14 yards on three carries for one touchdown. After Johnson passed only 15-for-30 for 117 yards and one interception and was sacked six times, coach Dennis Green benched Johnson and put in
Randall Cunningham. The Vikings would lose to the
Green Bay Packers 27–11. Cunningham would start the final three games of the season, and Minnesota finished the 1997 season 9–7, won the NFC Wild Card game, and lost the NFC Divisional round.
1998 season Johnson started the first two games of 1998 for the Vikings, both victories. In the season opener, a 31–7 win over Tampa Bay, Johnson threw for 4 touchdowns and 1 interception over 189 yards and completed 15 of 25 passes. Randall Cunningham replaced Johnson, and Minnesota won Week 2 (September 13) over the
St. Louis Rams 38–31. By Week 8, with Cunningham as starter, the Vikings had a perfect 7–0 record. Johnson returned to action in Week 9 (November 8), in a 31–24 win over the
New Orleans Saints, after Cunningham injured his knee. With 28-for-38 passing over 316 yards, Johnson had one passing touchdown and 2 interceptions. However, Johnson broke his thumb on the first play of the third quarter. Cunningham returned as starter the following week, and Johnson next played in the Week 15 50–10 win over the
Jacksonville Jaguars. Minnesota finished the 1998 season a franchise-best 15–1 and advanced to the NFC championship game, where they came a field goal short of the Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons. Following the season, Vikings coach
Dennis Green formally named Randall Cunningham as starting quarterback and traded Brad Johnson to the
Washington Redskins for a first, a future second, and a third-round draft pick.
Washington Redskins (1999–2000) 1999 season With 4,005 yards, 24 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a 90.0 passer rating, Johnson achieved career highs in passing yards, completions, touchdowns, and passer rating in 1999. He was also NFC Offensive Player of the Week twice that year again. One such Player of the Week honor came after Week 4 (October 3) after Johnson rallied the Redskins to a 38–36 win over the
Carolina Panthers; the Panthers led 21–0 during the game. Johnson threw more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (11) in a season that saw him start the first nine games of the season and go 6–3 before he tore a ligament in his knee that saw
Jeff George start the next three games. Johnson stopped negotiations for a contract extension by October. The Redskins skidded down the stretch, which saw
Norv Turner fired for
Terry Robiskie when the team fell to 7–6. In the game Johnson returned, he was benched midway through a 9-7 loss to the Giants (where he was just 14-of-29 passes for 126 yards with two interceptions) for George, who started the next two games due to apparent orders from owner
Daniel Snyder. Johnson started the last game of the season, which saw the team finish with a 8–8 record. Johnson signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent during the offseason while George started in Washington for 2001. George would go on to have the worst stats in the league and was released for
Tony Banks after the second game with a 0–2 start, while Johnson had a strong season in Tampa Bay and won a Super Bowl the following year.
Tampa Bay and the Super Bowl (2001–2004) In 2001, Johnson was pursued by the
Baltimore Ravens in the offseason (coached by
Brian Billick, his former offensive coordinator with the Vikings), but he spurned them to join the Buccaneers on a five-year contract worth $28 million. Johnson was reunited with former Vikings assistant-coach
Tony Dungy for his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That year, he broke the Buccaneers team records for passing yards with 3,406, completions with 340, and attempts with 540. In the 2002 season, he led the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl championship and earned his second Pro Bowl appearance. He was helped in the Super Bowl by a defense that scored 21 of their 48 points. That year, Johnson also became the first Buccaneers QB to lead the NFC in passer rating at 92.9 and set new team records for passing touchdowns with 22, completion percentage with 62.3, consecutive passes without an interception with 187 and lowest interception percentage with 1.3%. He was NFC Offensive Player of the Week twice. On January 21, 2015, Johnson later admitted to bribing ball boys to alter the footballs used during the Super Bowl. According to Johnson: "I paid some guys off to get the balls right. I went and got all 100 footballs, and they took care of all of them." He also stated that he "did nothing wrong", and that he talked to opposing Oakland Raiders QB
Rich Gannon beforehand and both agreed that they preferred not to use the slick, brand-new balls that the league provided for the game. In 2003, he won the NFL's "
Quarterback Challenge" competition, in which he beat Pro Bowl QBs
Tom Brady,
Matt Hasselbeck,
Jeff Garcia,
Mark Brunell,
Marc Bulger and others like
Byron Leftwich and
Joey Harrington in a skills competition with four parts involving accuracy, speed and mobility, long distance throw, and "No Huddle." Former teammate
Sean Salisbury said that despite having a big, strong arm and a great deep ball, Johnson would tend to throw the fast and easy completion which earned him the nickname "
Checkdown Charlie" among friends. After the Super Bowl, the Buccaneers ran into some problems. Although Johnson had good passing stats in 2003–2004 the year after the Super Bowl (3,811 yards, 26 touchdowns to break the Buccaneers' record again, 21 interceptions, and named 2003 Buccaneers MVP by the Tampa Sports Club) and 2004 (63% completion rate), they benched him in the fourth game of the 2004 season because the team had gone 4–11 in the last 15 games Johnson started. When the backup quarterback
Chris Simms was injured they started third-string quarterback
Brian Griese instead of Johnson partly because of
salary cap problems. Johnson asked out and was cut from the team at the end of the season.
Back in Minnesota (2005–2006) In 2005, Minnesota was struggling with now three-time Pro Bowler
Daunte Culpepper starting at quarterback.
Randy Moss had been traded in March of that year, and four-time Pro Bowl Center
Matt Birk was injured so Culpepper was expected to carry the offense against the top defenses in the NFL. While playing without any offensive weapons, and falling behind early in games the Vikings began the season at 2–5 with Culpepper throwing twice as many interceptions – twelve – as touchdowns – six – and five fumbles (three lost) before tearing his
MCL,
ACL, and
PCL in the seventh game. Johnson then took over as starting quarterback and the team then finished the season 7–2 with a six-game winning streak needing only one more win to go to the playoffs. Brad played very well and set a team record for lowest interception to attempt ratio (1.3% – same as his record in Tampa) which was the lowest in the NFL among starting QBs. While starting against teams that included the second (Bears), fourth (Ravens), fifth (Steelers), and seventh (Packers) ranked defenses in the NFL his passer rating was the third best in the NFC among starting quarterbacks, and was also better than three QBs selected to the Pro Bowl. But he struggled in those particular games with the exception of the Bears game in which the Bears had already clinched the division and played all of their 2nd and 3rd stringers. He also scored more touchdowns per game than four selected to the Pro Bowl. And despite his age he threw just as many 40+ yard passes as top 29 yr old QB Peyton Manning – six – in seven fewer games, which was the same amount as his Super Bowl year which had four more games. Johnson was named the starting quarterback for the Vikings' 2006 season, and a few days before the second game he turned 38 which made him the oldest starting quarterback in the league. Many felt his quick-release style was a good fit for then-new coach
Brad Childress' highly touted
West Coast system. The knowledge he had acquired from going to the playoffs under four different coaching systems and having winning records with seven different head coaches seemed to be an asset for first time head coach Childress. In the preseason, Johnson had a passer rating of 110.7, one of the top 10 in the league out of more than 100 quarterbacks who performed. However, in the regular season, Johnson struggled more than Daunte Culpepper did in 2005, throwing eight touchdowns to fifteen interceptions. Midway through the season, he had already set an NFL record for passes completed short of a first down on third down in a season. Many fans grew restless for the benching of Johnson because of his conservative checkdowns, immobility, and at the same time reckless decisions which plagued the Vikings offense. His quarterback-rating on 3rd downs, with a lead, from behind, and in the red zone were the worst in the entire league. 31 QBs threw more touchdown passes while only 10 threw more interceptions than Johnson in the 2006 NFL season. On February 28, 2007, the Vikings released Johnson in favor of rookie quarterback
Tarvaris Jackson.
Dallas Cowboys (2007–2008) On March 5, 2007, Johnson signed a three-year deal with the
Dallas Cowboys to back up
Tony Romo. Johnson played little in the 2007 season. He played in week 17 against the Washington Redskins, going 7-for-11 for 79 yards in the 27–6 loss. During the 2008 season, Romo suffered a broken pinkie finger on his throwing hand in week 6 against the
Arizona Cardinals. Johnson started for the Cowboys during the next three weeks until the injury healed. In Johnson's week 7 start against the St. Louis Rams, he completed 17 of 34 passes for 234 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. He also had one fumble in the 34–14 loss. In week 8, in a 13–9 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he passed for 122 yards and one touchdown to
Roy Williams, and the Cowboys had the lowest total offensive yards in a winning game: 172 yards. In the week 9 game against the
New York Giants, he completed 5 of 11 passes for 71 yards and had two passes intercepted. He was replaced by third-string quarterback
Brooks Bollinger at the start of the second half. After the Cowboys' bye week, Romo returned from the broken finger to reclaim the starting role. The Cowboys released Johnson on February 26, 2009.
Legacy Johnson ranks 63rd in career
passer rating in NFL history as of January 2022, above
Troy Aikman and
Warren Moon, who are 71st and 77th, respectively. Johnson went 72–53 as a starter and completed over 60% of his passes for 13 straight seasons (1995–2007), the first quarterback in NFL history to do so. Johnson eclipsed the 3,000-yard passing mark five times. In 1999, he became only the second
Washington Redskins quarterback in franchise history to eclipse 4,000 yards. He had the top passer rating in the
NFC in 2002, the same season he helped the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers win
Super Bowl XXXVII, and would earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors seven times in his career. He would also break many Tampa Bay passing records during his time there as quarterback. To date, Johnson,
Marcus Mariota, and
Josh Allen are the only NFL quarterbacks to have thrown touchdown passes to themselves (Mariota doing it in the 2018 NFL playoffs and Allen doing it in Week 13 of the 2024 NFL season). Johnson accomplished this against the
Carolina Panthers in 1997, catching his own deflected pass, juking, and running three yards for a
touchdown. ==NFL career statistics==