David Mark Archer (born February 15, 1962) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. A undrafted

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, Archer played six seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1984 to 1989 for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Early life

Born in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

, Archer attended Soda Springs High School in Soda Springs, Idaho.

College career

After high school Archer played football at

Snow College Snow College is a public community college in Ephraim, Utah. It offers certificates and associate degrees in a number of areas, along with bachelor's degrees in music and software engineering and a four-year nursing program. Snow College is part ...

Ephraim, Utah Ephraim is a city in Sanpete County, Utah, Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 5,611 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the largest city in Sanpete County. It is the location of Snow College and is located ...

. In 1981 in his second season with the Badgers, Archer received Juco All-American honors and was fourth in the country in passing. This caught the attention of Donnie Duncan and the Iowa State coaching staff. Archer began his Iowa State career with the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

season. He had some individual success with 1,465 yard of passing offense, but the team struggled to a 4-6-1 record. The following season under Jim Criner's downfield oriented offense, Archer flourished. He paired up with All-American receiver Tracy Henderson to form one of the most lethal QB-WR duos in ISU history. Archer set school marks in pass completions (234), attempts (403), yards (2,639), total offense (2,698), touchdowns (18) and lowest interception percentage (.029). He led the Big Eight and ranked eighth nationally in total offense while his favorite target Henderson caught a then-school record 1,051 yards, ranking third nationally. In one of Archer's best games, he threw for a then-school-record 346 yards against the No. 1-ranked

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

team, helping the Cyclones put up the most points (29) against the Cornhuskers in the regular season. His 2,639 passing yards and 2,698 yards of total offense his senior season are still the second-best single-season marks in Iowa State history.

Statistics

NFL career

Archer was drafted in the ninth round of the

1984 USFL Draft The 1984 USFL Draft was the second collegiate draft of the United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played ...

by the

Denver Gold The Denver Gold was a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second major professional American football, football league in the United States, playing a springtime season, from 1983 to 1985. The Gold played the ...

, but was not called in the NFL draft. He opted to not sign with USFL and chose to sign a free-agent contract with the NFL's

. This decision ultimately paid off because in his second NFL season he was the named the starting QB. He led Atlanta with 1,992 passing yards. The following season he kept the starting job, led the Falcons to a 5-1-1 record after seven games, was named NFC Player of the Month for September, and kept the Falcons rolling until an injury ended his season with five games remaining. He finished the year with 2,007 passing yards and 10 touchdown strikes in 11 games, throwing for a career-high 350 yards against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. The mobile Archer proved to be one of the better running QBs in the league, ranking at the top of the NFL in QB rushing yards in both

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

(347 yards) and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

(298). Archer played five more seasons in the NFL, finishing his final years with the

and

Statistics

WLAF and CFL career

Archer played for the Sacramento Surge of the WLAF in 1992, throwing for 2,964 yards (

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

single season record) and leading them to a

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

championship, where he was named game MVP. In 1993, the same ownership group who owned the Surge (who folded along with the rest of the WLAF's North American teams following the 1992 season) transferred Archer to their new

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) team, the

Sacramento Gold Miners The Sacramento Gold Miners were a Canadian football team based in Sacramento, California. The franchise was the first American team in the Canadian Football League. The Gold Miners inherited a home stadium, front office staff and much of the rost ...

(part of the league's United States expansion). As a Gold Miner, in 1993 he threw for 6,023 yards, still the fifth most in any CFL season ( Doug Flutie of the Calgary Stampeders threw for even more yards that year.) He threw for 3,340 yards for Sacramento in 1994. He played with the San Antonio Texans in 1995, and the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

in 1996. After the Rough Riders folded, he was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the dispersal draft. He decided to not play in Saskatchewan as the contract offer was too low and retired instead. He spent the 1997 season as a CFL television analyst and returned to the CFL with the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

in 1998. His final game was the Western Final playoff game against the Calgary Stampeders with Jeff Garcia at quarterback. Calgary won and went on to win the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

. Archer retired after that game and is now the color analyst for the

alongside

Wes Durham Dallas Wesley "Wes" Durham (born January 25, 1966 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American sportscaster. He is a play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports and ACC Network coverage of college football and basketball. He works telecasts of the Atl ...

and ACC college football. In his five seasons in the CFL he completed 1,388 of 2,434 passes (57%) for 20,671 yards with 120 touchdown passes and 71 interceptions.

Broadcasting career

In 2004 Archer made the move from pre- and post-game show host to the booth as the main color commentator for the Falcons' games on their flagship station, 92.9 the Game FM. Additionally, he serves as a color analyst for

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

football games for the Raycom network as well.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, David 1962 births Living people American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Atlanta Falcons announcers Atlanta Falcons players Canadian Football League announcers Canadian football quarterbacks College football announcers Edmonton Elks players Iowa State Cyclones football players National Football League announcers Ottawa Rough Riders players Snow Badgers football players Philadelphia Eagles players Sacramento Gold Miners players Sacramento Surge players San Antonio Texans players San Diego Chargers players Washington Redskins players Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina Players of American football from Idaho Players of Canadian football from North Carolina