Bengals history: Boomer Esiason stands alone among Cincinnati's 3 left-handed QBs

Last week, The Dan Lebatard Show’s Amin Elhassan invoked the Cincinnati Bengals and former quarterback Boomer Esiason in a discussion centered around left-handed quarterbacks. 

Something else the former Assistant Director of Basketball Operations for the Phoenix Suns mentioned is that the Bengals are one of three teams that had lefties as starters and backups.   

That got us thinking here about who the left-handed QBs are who have thrown a pass for Cincinnati, and which is the best? Spoiler alert. You already know who the best is.

Erik Wilhelm, the other Bengals lefty

Besides having a name that sounds and spells like it should be in a TV series about King Alfred’s victory over the Vikings and who would go on to create England as we know it today, Erik Wilhelm was the Bengals’ second left-handed QB to take a snap for the franchise. 

The Bengals selected Wilhelm in the third round of the 1989 NFL Draft out of Oregon State. He is the backup that the aforementioned Elhassan referred to. 

Wilhelm played six seasons for the Bengals between 1989 and 1996. In that time, as one of Esaison’s and Jeff Blake’s backups, he appeared in 22 games and recorded five touchdowns, 912 yards, and nine touchdowns. 

Wilhelm was also one of the crop of quarterbacks that some of us of a certain age remember watching at training camp at Wilmington College, back when players had to “go away” for camp. The good ole ‘Two-a-days.’ 

Scott Mitchell did not represent Cincy lefties well 

The last time the Bengals had a left-handed quarterback take a snap in a game was in 2001, when Scott Mitchell started in place of starter Jon Kitna for one game. 

If you were not around for the pre-Marvin Lewis era of the Bengals, then you just missed out on the Mitchell experience. And we envy you. 

The Miami Dolphins drafted Mitchell in the fourth round of the 1990 draft out of Utah. He played for the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens before landing in Cincinnati in 2000.

Speaking of the Dan LeBatard Show, Mitchell was the subject of one of the most controversial trade suggestions in sports media history when Miami Herald’s Greg Cote wrote that the Dolphins should trade Dan Marino because they had Scott Mitchell on the team. 

In his five starts and nine appearances with the Bengals, Mitchell threw for 1,004 yards, three touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and an abysmal 46.7 completion percentage. For reference, Akili Smith’s completion percentage was 46.6

Boomer Esiason gave young Cincy lefties someone to look up to

There have been three quarterbacks in the Bengals’ history who have led the franchise to the Super Bowl. Only one was left-handed. That one? Boomer Esiason.

Esiason spent the first nine years of his 14-year career in Cincinnati. He bookended his time in the NFL when he returned to The Queen City in his final year after stops with the Jets and Cardinals.   

During Esiason’s time with the Bengals, he accumulated 21,149 yards and 187 touchdowns. Also, Esiason earned an MVP, three Pro Bowl selections, and one Super Bowl appearance while playing for Cincinnati. 

Growing up in Cincinnati as a lefty and watching Esiason play MVP-caliber football was inspiring for younger kids with an aversion to dextromanualness. 

Furthermore, Esiason allowed educators across the Tri-State area to stop taking pens, pencils, and crayons from students’ left hands and forcing them to write with their right hands. 

Yes, that was a thing. And yes, Esiason, simply by playing football, helped remove some of the echoes of witchcraft associated with being left-handed that lingered around even in the 80s. In Cincinnati, anyway. 

On the field, Esiason ranks third in Bengals history in passing yards and touchdowns. 

Hopefully Joe Burrow can catch and surpass Esiason for third place this season. However, he’ll need two to catch Esiason in yards, as he trails by 6,339 in that category. 

Bengals almost had a fourth southpaw

The Cincinnati Bengals famously selected LSU quarterback Joe Burrow first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. But it was another QB who, at the beginning of the 2019 college campaign, NFL franchises were tanking for.  

Six years on, Tua Tagovailoa now plays for the Atlanta Falcons along with third-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. For those counting, that is two southpaw QBs who are on the same roster for a franchise whose most famous signal-caller, Michael Vick, is also a lefty. 

Fortunately, Burrow went on a legendary run at LSU, showing everyone that he should be the first overall pick, which the Bengals secured on the last weekend of the 2019 season.

There are always about 10% of the world’s population who are lefties. And according to Elhassan’s research, there have only been 33 left-handed QB’s who have thrown a pass in the history of the NFL. Nine percent of whom have played for the Bengals. 

In a world made for right-handed people in mind, keep grinding, fellow lefties. You are seen and appreciated. With that said, we have our QB in Cincinnati, so let’s hope there won’t be a need for any other quarterback to take over the starting mantle any time soon, lefty or otherwise. 

You can listen to the entire episode of the Dan LeBatard show here, with the left-handed quarterback conversation beginning at the 2:42:30 mark.

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