David Shaw’s history of developing quarterbacks

Looking into a few notable quarterbacks Shaw has worked with in the past

Per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore, former Stanford head coach David Shaw is a name to keep an eye on during the Las Vegas Raiders’ search for a new head coach. Whether it’s Aidan O’Connell or someone else, the Raiders are going to have a young quarterback to mold so each candidate’s history of developing the position will be a key aspect of the hiring process.

In that regard, what does Shaw’s résumé look like?

Rich Gannon

Shaw was part of Jon Gruden’s staff in Oakland from 1998 to 2001, where he worked with Rich Gannon as an offensive quality control coach for three years and as the quarterbacks coach in ‘01. Gannon went from an NFL journeyman and fringe starter to a four-time Pro Bowler, two-time first-team All-Pro and league MVP. Granted, the latter was the year after Shaw left the Raiders.

With Shaw as his position coach in 2001, Gannon completed 65.8 percent of his passes for 3,828 yards and 27 touchdowns with just nine interceptions. That led to the quarterback’s third consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl.

Josh Johnson

When Jim Harbaugh brought Shaw to the University of San Diego in 2006 as the team’s passing game coordinator, Shaw worked with Oakland native and long-time NFL backup Josh Johnson. That year, Johnson had over 4,000 total yards and 45 total touchdowns while becoming the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, a third-team All-American and leading the FCS in several statistical categories. He ended up being a fifth-round pick in 2008 and the first player drafted by the NFL in school history.

Andrew Luck

This is the biggest feather in Shaw’s cap when it comes to developing or working with quarterbacks. Harbaugh was the head coach and Shaw was the offensive coordinator during Andrew Luck’s first two seasons as the starter. Then Shaw got the promotion for Luck’s final campaign in Palo Alto. The quarterback won several awards and was a two-time runner-up for the Heisman Trophy before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Kevin Hogan

The season after Luck left, Kevin Hogan was a freshman and didn’t take over the starting job until the end of the year. However, he led the Cardinal to a Pac-12 Championship that season and was the team’s starter for the rest of his tenure at Stanford, racking up 9,385 passing yards for 75 touchdowns with 29 interceptions and a 65.9 completion percentage in total. Hogan ended up being a fifth-round pick in 2016 and had a seven-year career in the NFL, primarily as a backup.

Davis Mills

Davis Mills didn’t put up impressive numbers at Stanford—only 3,464 passing yards and 18 touchdowns in two seasons—but it was also a complicated situation. He began as a backup and made eight appearances in 2019 when starter K.J. Castello was injured and only had one year as the team’s full-time starter; the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. Still, Mills ended up being a third-round pick in 2021 and made 26 starts for the Houston Texans before the organization drafted C.J. Stroud last April.

Tanner McKee

The end of Shaw’s tenure at Stanford was ugly but Tanner McKee was one of few bright spots. McKee threw for nearly 5,300 yards and 28 touchdowns during his two seasons as a starter and ended up being a sixth-round pick in last April’s draft. He’s currently listed as the Philadephia Eagles’ third-string quarterback behind Jalen Hurts and Marcus Mariota.