Kordell Stewart: The Original Slash Before Dual-Threat Was a Thing

The Original Slash Before Dual-Threat Was a Thing

Before Lamar Jackson, before Cam Newton, before anybody was talking about "dual-threat quarterbacks" as a category, there was Kordell Stewart from Marrero, Louisiana, doing things on a football field that didn't have a name yet. They ended up calling him Slash—quarterback/wide receiver/running back—because nobody could figure out what position he actually played. The answer was all of them.

Stewart grew up on the West Bank, attending John Ehret High School in Jefferson Parish. He was the kind of athlete that Louisiana produces with suspicious regularity—fast, strong, fearless, and blessed with an arm that could throw a football through a brick wall. He went to the University of Colorado, where he immediately became famous for one of the most iconic plays in college football history.

The Miracle at Michigan. September 24, 1994. Colorado down by a touchdown with six seconds left, the ball on their own 36-yard line. Stewart launched a 73-yard Hail Mary into the end zone that somehow found Michael Westbrook for the game-winning touchdown. It was the kind of play that you watch fifty times and still can't believe happened. And the kid from Marrero was the one who threw it.

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Stewart in 1995, and for the next several years, he was the most exciting and confusing player in the NFL. Head coach Bill Cowher didn't know what to do with him, which was understandable—nobody had ever seen a player quite like Stewart before. He lined up at quarterback, split out at wide receiver, ran the ball like a halfback, and returned kicks. Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope coined the nickname "Slash" because you needed punctuation to describe all the things this man could do.

In 2001, Stewart finally got his shot as the full-time starting quarterback and responded with the best season of his career. He led the Steelers to a 13-3 record and a trip to the AFC Championship Game, earning a Pro Bowl selection. That season, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for twenty or more touchdowns and rush for ten or more in a single season. He was doing things that wouldn't become commonplace for another two decades.

Stewart's career was shorter and more turbulent than it should have been. The NFL of the late 1990s didn't really have a framework for what he was—a quarterback who could beat you with his legs as easily as his arm. Teams treated him as a novelty when he was actually a preview of the future. He finished his career with thirty-eight rushing touchdowns as a quarterback, a number that still ranks in the top ten all-time.

Kordell Stewart was ahead of his time, and that's both his legacy and his frustration. The kid from the West Bank showed the NFL something it wasn't ready for—a quarterback who could do everything. Twenty years later, the league finally caught up.