Vernon Davis and Alex Smith Connected Again For A Touchdown, 12 Years Later

by Chase Stuart on October 15, 2018

Smith and Davis with the 49ers

On Sunday against the Panthers, Washington quarterback Alex Smith threw a touchdown pass to tight end Vernon Davis. Over 12 years ago, the two connected for the first touchdown reception of Davis’s career, back when both players were with the 49ers.

How rare is it for a quarterback to throw a touchdown pass to a player, and then throw a touchdown pass 12 years later to the same player on a new team? Well, it’s never happened before. The closest was with Randall Cunningham and Cris Carter; the duo connected for a touchdown pass in November 1987 with the Eagles, and last connected for a touchdown pass in September 1999 with the Vikings, a span of nearly 12 years.

The table below shows, through 2017, all QB/Receiver pairings where the duo connected for touchdown passes on different teams. I have used “different teams” liberally here (e.g., including the old Browns and Ravens as different teams), but you can consider them the same team if you like.

QB	Receiver	First TD	First Tm	Last TD	Last Tm	TD Tm1	TD Tm2	Total TDs	Years
Alex Smith	Vernon Davis	09/10/2006	sfo	10/14/2018	was	35	1	36	12.1
Randall Cunningham	Cris Carter	11/01/1987	phi	09/12/1999	min	17	16	33	11.9
Y.A. Tittle	Hugh McElhenny	10/05/1952	sfo	10/27/1963	nyg	13	2	15	11.1
Drew Bledsoe	Terry Glenn	09/08/1996	nwe	10/01/2006	dal	21	10	31	10.1
Peyton Manning	Brandon Stokley	12/14/2003	clt	01/12/2013	den	18	6	24	9.1
Jay Schroeder	Gary Clark	12/08/1985	was	12/04/1994	crd	14	1	15	9
Steve McNair	Derrick Mason	10/25/1998	oti	09/23/2007	rav	30	3	33	8.9
George Blanda	Billy Cannon	10/30/1960	oti	11/24/1968	rai	20	1	21	8.1
Jay Cutler	Eddie Royal	09/08/2008	den	09/11/2016	chi	5	2	7	8
Jay Cutler	Brandon Marshall	12/03/2006	den	11/16/2014	chi	14	26	40	8
Ken Stabler	Dave Casper	09/22/1974	rai	11/29/1981	oti	38	7	45	7.2
Zeke Bratkowski	Carroll Dale	09/17/1961	ram	10/20/1968	gnb	4	7	11	7.1
Brian Griese	Desmond Clark	09/04/2000	den	10/07/2007	chi	7	2	9	7.1
Vinny Testaverde	Mark Carrier	12/06/1987	tam	01/01/1995	cle	21	5	26	7.1
Jim Harbaugh	Curtis Conway	10/10/1993	chi	11/05/2000	sdg	2	2	4	7.1
Carson Palmer	T.J. Houshmandzadeh	11/28/2004	cin	12/04/2011	rai	34	1	35	7
Fran Tarkenton	Bob Tucker	10/25/1970	nyg	10/30/1977	min	8	1	9	7
Neil O'Donnell	Yancey Thigpen	09/19/1993	pit	09/10/2000	oti	11	4	15	7
Vinny Testaverde	Keyshawn Johnson	09/20/1998	nyj	12/19/2004	dal	8	6	14	6.2
Carson Palmer	Jermaine Gresham	09/12/2010	cin	11/27/2016	crd	4	3	7	6.2
Jack Kemp	Keith Lincoln	11/12/1961	sdg	12/09/1967	buf	1	5	6	6.1
Trent Dilfer	Darrell Jackson	11/04/2001	sea	10/21/2007	sfo	5	1	6	6
Billy Wade	Joe Marconi	09/26/1959	ram	10/25/1964	chi	1	4	5	5.1
Steve DeBerg	Tony Martin	12/05/1993	mia	12/27/1998	atl	1	1	2	5.1
Neil O'Donnell	Jeff Graham	09/06/1992	pit	08/31/1997	nyj	1	3	4	5
Jim Harbaugh	Floyd Turner	09/04/1994	clt	12/13/1998	rav	10	5	15	4.3
Jim Harbaugh	Roosevelt Potts	09/25/1994	clt	12/27/1998	rav	2	2	4	4.3
Browning Nagle	Terance Mathis	10/04/1992	nyj	12/02/1996	atl	2	1	3	4.2
Earl Morrall	Norm Bulaich	10/10/1971	clt	12/01/1975	mia	2	1	3	4.1
Jim Hardy	Bob Shaw	10/20/1946	ram	12/10/1950	crd	1	11	12	4.1
Ralph Guglielmi	Joe Walton	11/02/1958	was	12/09/1962	nyg	5	1	6	4.1
Vinny Testaverde	Michael Jackson	10/24/1993	cle	11/16/1997	rav	12	17	29	4.1
Ernie Nevers	Cobb Rooney	10/10/1926	dul	10/26/1930	crd	2	3	5	4
Josh McCown	Matt Forte	11/17/2013	chi	12/03/2017	nyj	2	1	3	4
Lamar McHan	Gary Knafelc	10/04/1959	gnb	10/20/1963	sfo	2	1	3	4
Vinny Testaverde	Brian Kinchen	09/26/1993	cle	10/05/1997	rav	3	2	5	4
Tarvaris Jackson	Sidney Rice	11/25/2007	min	11/20/2011	sea	7	2	9	4
Peyton Manning	Jacob Tamme	11/01/2010	clt	09/21/2014	den	4	6	10	3.9
Frank Reich	Pete Metzelaars	12/15/1991	buf	09/03/1995	car	2	1	3	3.7
Rodney Peete	Irving Fryar	09/01/1996	phi	01/02/2000	was	3	1	4	3.3
Chuck Muncie	Wes Chandler	09/02/1979	nor	12/20/1982	sdg	1	2	3	3.3
George Taliaferro	Dick Wilkins	09/02/1949	lda	11/27/1952	dtx	2	1	3	3.2
Boomer Esiason	Rob Moore	09/05/1993	nyj	11/17/1996	crd	6	1	7	3.2
Vinny Testaverde	Derrick Alexander	09/18/1994	cle	11/02/1997	rav	2	16	18	3.1
Milt Plum	Tom Watkins	09/24/1961	cle	11/01/1964	det	1	1	2	3.1
Rich Gannon	Andre Rison	11/30/1997	kan	12/16/2000	rai	5	6	11	3
Bob Gagliano	Terry Greer	10/11/1987	sfo	10/07/1990	det	1	1	2	3
Kent Graham	LeShon Johnson	09/29/1996	crd	09/26/1999	nyg	1	1	2	3
James Harris	Bob Klein	11/04/1974	ram	10/30/1977	sdg	5	1	6	3
Josh McCown	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	11/09/2014	tam	10/22/2017	nyj	1	3	4	3
Rich Gannon	Derrick Walker	11/28/1996	kan	10/10/1999	rai	1	1	2	2.9
Gus Frerotte	Randy McMichael	09/11/2005	mia	12/02/2007	ram	5	2	7	2.2
Kyle Orton	Brandon Lloyd	09/21/2008	chi	11/28/2010	den	2	9	11	2.2
Erik Kramer	Chris Penn	10/12/1997	chi	10/03/1999	sdg	5	1	6	2
Norm Snead	Bob Grim	10/31/1971	min	10/21/1973	nyg	1	3	4	2
Benny Friedman	Len Sedbrook	11/18/1928	dwl	10/05/1930	nyg	2	6	8	1.9
Jeff Blake	Willie Jackson	09/12/1999	cin	11/05/2000	nor	2	1	3	1.1
Benny Friedman	Ossie Wiberg	11/06/1927	cib	12/09/1928	dwl	2	2	4	1.1
Benny Friedman	Rex Thomas	10/30/1927	cib	11/29/1928	dwl	2	2	4	1.1
Al Dekdebrun	Ray Ebli	11/10/1946	bba	12/07/1947	cra	1	1	2	1.1
Vinny Testaverde	Earnest Byner	09/24/1995	cle	10/20/1996	rav	1	1	2	1.1
Benny Friedman	Carl Bacchus	10/23/1927	cib	11/11/1928	dwl	3	3	6	1.1
Benny Friedman	Proc Randels	11/27/1927	cib	12/09/1928	dwl	1	1	2	1
Bob Celeri	Buddy Young	10/21/1951	nyy	10/26/1952	dtx	2	1	3	1
Bob Celeri	George Taliaferro	12/09/1951	nyy	10/18/1952	dtx	2	1	3	0.9

Stabler and Casper hold the record for combined touchdowns on two teams, at 45, although most of those were in Oakland. Bledsoe/Glenn, Cunningham/Carter, Cutler/Marshall, and — if you want to include them, Testaverde/Jackson and Testaverde/Alexander — are the only pairs to connect for double digit touchdowns on two different teams.

Tagged as: Alex Smith, Vernon Davis

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