Jim McMahon is a career quality starter — a quarterback whose body of work places McMahon in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and McMahon's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.
Career Value · VORP
177 career value over replacement — #490 all-time of 4,695. 13.6/season above a replacement-level QB.
Pick #5 (Rd 1) · CHI · 1982 · -8.3 vs expected KV-H
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Season totals or exact team stints. Career totals count each season once.
| Season | Age | Team | G | GS | Passing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | TD% | Int% | Y/A | AdjY/A | TD:INT | Rate | Sk | |||||
| 1982 | 23 | CHI | 8 | — | 120 | 210 | 57.1% | 1,501 | 9 | 7 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 1.3 | 79.9 | — |
| 1983 | 24 | CHI | 14 | — | 175 | 295 | 59.3% | 2,184 | 12 | 13 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 7.4 | 6.2 | 0.9 | 77.6 | — |
| 1984 | 25 | CHI | 9 | — | 85 | 143 | 59.4% | 1,146 | 8 | 2 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 4.0 | 97.8 | — |
| 1985 | 26 | CHI | 13 | — | 178 | 313 | 56.9% | 2,392 | 15 | 11 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 1.4 | 82.6 | — |
| 1986 | 27 | CHI | 6 | — | 77 | 150 | 51.3% | 995 | 5 | 8 | 3.3 | 5.3 | 6.6 | 4.9 | 0.6 | 61.4 | — |
| 1987 | 28 | CHI | 7 | — | 125 | 210 | 59.5% | 1,639 | 12 | 8 | 5.7 | 3.8 | 7.8 | 7.2 | 1.5 | 87.4 | — |
| 1988 | 29 | CHI | 9 | — | 114 | 192 | 59.4% | 1,346 | 6 | 7 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 76.0 | — |
| 1989 | 30 | SD | 12 | — | 176 | 318 | 55.3% | 2,132 | 10 | 10 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 1.0 | 73.5 | — |
| 1990 | 31 | PHI | 5 | — | 6 | 9 | 66.7% | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | — | 86.8 | — |
| 1991 | 32 | PHI | 12 | — | 187 | 311 | 60.1% | 2,239 | 12 | 11 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 7.2 | 6.4 | 1.1 | 80.3 | — |
| 1992 | 33 | PHI | 4 | — | 22 | 43 | 51.2% | 279 | 1 | 2 | 2.3 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 4.9 | 0.5 | 60.1 | — |
| 1993 | 34 | MIN | 12 | — | 200 | 331 | 60.4% | 1,968 | 9 | 8 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 5.9 | 5.4 | 1.1 | 76.2 | — |
| 1994 | 35 | ARI | 2 | — | 23 | 43 | 53.5% | 219 | 1 | 3 | 2.3 | 7.0 | 5.1 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 46.6 | — |
| 1995 | 36 | GB | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 100.0% | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | — | 91.7 | — |
| 1996 | 37 | GB | 5 | — | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.8 | 9.8 | — | 105.2 | — |
| Career | — | 119 | — | 1,492 | 2,573 | 58.0% | 18,148 | 100 | 90 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 7.1 | 6.3 | 1.1 | 78.2 | — | |
A quality quarterback with a top 30% among starters — a legitimate starter who contributed meaningfully across their career.
Worth 177 points of value above a freely-available replacement quarterback — top 11% of all 4,695 ranked at the position. 9 of 13 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +19.7 on average.See board →
Seasons above replacement
9 seasons × ~19.7 surplus ≈
Jay Fiedler
QB
84% match
1982 Draft ClassmatesFull class →