(born
February 14 ,
1979 ) is an
American athlete, currently playing
Quarterback for the
New York Jets of the
National Football League .
Born in
Ruston, Louisiana , Ramsey was a two-year starter at quarterback for his
Ruston High School football team . As a senior, he was the nation's top ranked high school
Javelin thrower and won a bronze medal at the
1997 Junior Pan American Games in
Havana ,
Cuba . Ramsey is an avid outdoorsman, spending most of his off season "in the woods."
Ramsey attended
Tulane University , and had an outstanding collegiate career as a "scholar athlete", being named five times to the
Conference USA Commissioner's
Honor Roll , and was the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete of the Year, in
2001 .
During Ramsey's
1999 season, he set 20 Tulane passing records, including single season records for passing yards, attempts, and completions. In that season he scored 25 touchdowns, the second-most ever for a Tulane player. In
2000 , he led the third-best passing offense in the country. He also made the All-Conference USA second-team, leading the conference in most meaningful passing statistics. In his senior season in
2001 he started 11 games and scored 22 touchdowns. He set a school record, having at least one touchdown pass in 31 consecutive games. Upon graduating, he had the top five passing games in school history. His career totals at Tulane were surpassed only (in various individual statistics, none overall) by
Shaun King ,
Mike McKay ,
Roch Hontas , and
Terrence Jones .
Ramsey graduated with degrees in
Accounting and
Finance .
Patrick Ramsey was drafted 32nd overall in the
2002 Draft , to replace
Brad Johnson as quarterback. However, there were early difficulties with
Steve Spurrier 's offense, and Ramsey often split games with other quarterbacks. The
2003 season, Ramsey's first full season as a starter was even more difficult. He was one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL that year, which was also Spurrier's last season as head coach. In 2004,
Joe Gibbs returned to coach the team after a prolonged absence; he originally signed
Mark Brunell as the starting quarterback, but replaced him with Ramsey in November. A month later, Gibbs named Ramsey as the starting quarterback for the
2005 season.
In the Redskins first game against the
Chicago Bears , Ramsey suffered a minor neck injury after a clothesline hit by
Chicago Bears linebacker
Lance Briggs . Gibbs demoted him to the role of Brunell's back-up for the second game versus the
Dallas Cowboys . It was reported that Ramsey requested a trade from the Redskins, following announcement of his demotion.
{Link without Title} This report was later claimed to be false by Ramsey and the Redskins organization.
In March of 2006, Ramsey was traded to the
New York Jets for a 6th round pick in the
2006 NFL Draft .
For his career, Ramsey has played in 24-of-33 possible games, starting 19 of them, and completed 480-of-861 passes for 5,435 yards, 34 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. His career quarterback rating is currently 75.0.
Ramsey has arguably had the most successful career on the field of any of the quarterbacks taken in the 2002 NFL Draft. In games he started, he has posted an 8-11 record. Fellow 2002 first round quarterbacks David Carr (1st Overall) has an 18-42 record as a starter and Joey Harrington's (3rd Overall) is 18-38. Ramsey has never started consistently and the Redskins have been noted for deficiencies in pass protection, running offense (until 2004) and mediocre receivers. His 75.0 passer rating and 34-29 touchdown-interception ratio are also tops among the three quarter backs.
