Adam Schefter Brutally Roasts Dan Orlovsky’s Playing Career During First Take Segment

Nowadays, there are many different types of NFL analysts. You’ve got the lifelong journalists, the entertainers, and the data-driven guys. Then there’s the player/coach/executive contingent. Former coaches, GMs, star players, and role players have all taken their shot at a TV gig. But it seems that role players, like Dan Orlovsky, might be among the best of the bunch.

Orlovsky was not exactly a role player. He was a backup quarterback, which meant he contributed even less than a role player would. He was in the league for 12 years but only saw the field in seven of them. The UConn standout also amassed just 12 career starts, which, fittingly enough, averages out to one per year.

His struggles in the NFL are rarely mentioned by his co-workers, however, as his football analysis is usually pretty well-articulated and well-researched. Rarely doesn’t mean never, though. ESPN’s First Take is known for outlandish takes, but it’s also known for entertainment, which often stems from fun jabs the analysts throw at each other. And this Monday, Orlovsky was on the receiving end of a haymaker from ESPN insider Adam Schefter.

“I believe Dan is objective. He’s speaking his mind about quarterbacks. Listen, he is much better at evaluating quarterbacks than he is at playing quarterback,” Schefter said, laughing.

“In all the areas, if you want to get on Dan, there are so many areas we can get on him about. But, objective?” the analyst then asked.

Funny enough, Schefter’s hilarious shot at Orlovsky was actually a response to Stephen A. Smith going on a half-rant about how he couldn’t believe that Schefter was suggesting Orlovsky was unbiased when evaluating quarterbacks. Smith’s argument was that Orlovsky generally went too easy on his fellow signal callers. With all of the harsh hot take merchants out there, that’s actually a breath of fresh air.

Orlovsky took it in stride, holding his hands up with a laugh and a smile and saying, “That’s true, that’s 100 percent true.”

And if we take a little bit of a deeper dive into Orlovsky’s numbers from his NFL career, it’s clear that he and Schefter are correct in ranking “Analyst Orlovsky” above “QB Orlovsky”.

As a rookie fifth-round pick in 2005, Orlovsky was 7-for-17 for 63 yards in two relief appearances. He didn’t play again until 2008, when he went 0-7 as the starter with an 8-8 TD-INT ratio. Unfortunately, Orlovsky was a big part of that team, going 0-16, just the fourth winless season in NFL history and the first since the adoption of a 16-game schedule.

He signed with the Houston Texans in 2009, but wasn’t even able to beat out Rex Grossman for the backup QB job there. He spent two seasons there as their QB3, suiting up for one game but never taking the field. His next stop was with the Indianapolis Colts in 2011, that nebulous season after Peyton Manning but before Andrew Luck.

Orlovsky was cut during camp but re-signed in September, beating out Curtis Painter for the starting job. In his first start with the Colts in Week 13 against the New England Patriots, Orlovsky had the only 300+ yard game of his career (353 yards and two TDs), but still lost.

He lost his next start as well before finally earning his first career win as an NFL starter (and also Indy’s first win of the season) in Week 15. He then made it two straight by engineering a comeback win over his old employer, the Texans, with a TD pass to Reggie Wayne with under 30 seconds remaining. Orlovsky would not start another game after that season, ending his career with a 2-10 mark.

He spent 2o12-2013 with the Bucs, suiting up for three games and going 4-for-7 for 51 yards in limited action. He was brought back to Detroit to be Matthew Stafford’s backup for the final three years of his career from 2014-2016, going 22-for-40 for 201 yards, one TD, and one INT in a couple of relief appearances.

Safe to say Dan Orlovsky has eclipsed his NFL success by a wide margin since joining the ranks of TV sports pundits.