You’ve likely heard of the term switch-pitcher in baseball regarding a pitcher that can throw with both hands but have you ever heard of an ambidextrous quarterback?
The answer to the question has there ever been an ambidextrous quarterback is yes, well sort of. No ambidextrous quarterback has ever made the NFL but there have been a few examples of players using both of their arms when playing the Quarterback position.
Throughout this article, we are going to break down all the athletes that have come closest to being ambidextrous quarterbacks.
If you want to learn of other style of quarterbacks other than ambidextrous qbs see our guide to pro-style quarterbacks in football.
Chris Leak
Chris leak is one of the most famous examples of being an ambidextrous quarterback. Leak played at the University of Florida from 2003-2006 and actually won himself a national championship as the starting quarterback.
Leak was able to throw the ball effectively with both hands. Unfortunately, the ambidextrous abilities of Leak were not a huge part of his game. As a quarterback, the ability to throw the ball with both hands isn’t as helpful as one might think.
Unless a quarterback is rolling out of the pocket in the direction of his off-hand, being ambidextrous doesn’t offer much of an advantage.
That being said Leak never made it to the NFL, maybe getting to work with the top football coaches in the world would have allowed Leak to utilize his abilities in a different way.
Michael Vick
Michael Vick is another player that is known for his ability to throw the ball with both of his hands. Vick himself is right-handed yet has always thrown the ball with his left hand.
There are several different stories that attempt to describe why Vick throws with his left instead of his right. Some say as a kid he was so much more talented he had to play with his left hand to make things even.
Other stories state that Vick stiff-armed so well with his right hand that he would carry the ball in his left.
Either way, the result of this was Vick having the ability to throw a football fifty yards with his right hand and about sixty yards with his left.
Vick is arguably the most ambidextrous quarterback we have seen in the league.
Patrick Mahomes
Another quarterback that has displayed some ability to throw the ball with both hands is Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes made headlines by completing a pass left-handed in the fourth quarter against division rivals Denver Broncos in 2018.
This shocked fans as Mahomes is a right-handed quarterback. Since this pass was a bit of a dump-off it’s easy to say that Mahomes isn’t Ambidextrous but a story from his youth contests that point.
After the left-handed pass was completed several of Mahomes high school friends spoke to the media about a switch-hitting feat that Mahomes accomplished as a child.
Back in his younger days Mahomes played baseball and was playing a game in which his team held a large lead. Mahomes decided to go up to the next at-bat as a switch hitter meaning he was swinging from the opposite side of the plate as he usually would.
Mahomes ended up hitting a home run as a switch hitter showing off that he can do it all regardless of handiness.
All in all, there has not yet been a true ambidextrous quarterback in the NFL but as you can see with the list above there are many players who have the talent to pull off some ambidextrous plays.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this article breaking down the history of ambidextrous quarterbacks in football.
Remember there have been several players who have shown great ability to throw with both hands but no one has ever done it consistently in the NFL.
If you enjoyed this guide you want to learn more from some of our other articles. Now that you know about ambidextrous quarterbacks now you can learn about franchise quarterbacks or gunslinging QBs.
