Denver initially didn’t want Briscoe to play QB \u2014 the team hoped to convert him to cornerback \u2014 but when starter Steve Tensi went down with an injury in Week 1 and backup Joe DiVito struggled, the Broncos<\/a> turned the offense over to Briscoe and he provided a big spark in his NFL debut.<\/p>\n The following week, Briscoe became the first Black quarterback to start in AFL history and the first Black QB to start in the NFL’s Super Bowl era. Despite only starting in five games as a rookie, Briscoe ranked sixth in the AFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 1968, totaling 335 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-32 win over the Buffalo Bills<\/a> in Week 8.<\/p>\n Briscoe threw 14 touchdown passes in 1968, marking a franchise rookie record that stood for 55 years before being broken by Bo Nix.<\/p>\n Despite his record-setting rookie campaign, Briscoe was told he would not play QB in 1969, so he asked to be released. Denver granted his request and Briscoe signed with the Bills<\/a>. Buffalo converted Briscoe to receiver and he earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors playing that position in 1970.<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Two years later, the Bills traded Briscoe to the Miami Dolphins<\/a> in exchange for a first-round draft pick. Briscoe led the Dolphins with four touchdown catches when Miami went undefeated and won the Super Bowl during the 1972 season.<\/p>\n Briscoe won another Super Bowl with the Dolphins following the 1973 season before playing the final years of his career with the San Diego Chargers<\/a>, Detroit Lions<\/a> and New England Patriots<\/a>.<\/p>\n In nine NFL seasons, Briscoe totaled 5,570 all-purpose yards and scored 47 touchdowns. Following the 1976 season, Briscoe retired. The football pioneer has a statue honoring him at the University of Nebraska Omaha, and Briscoe was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He passed away at age 76<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n Social: Follow\u00a0Broncos Wire<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter\/X<\/a>!\u00a0Did you know:\u00a0These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 14, 2026, 9:00 a.m. MT After breaking records for the most passing yards (4,935) and passing touchdowns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[95878,217,7,216,251,2087,6,95879,95880,95882,107895,97108,96033,95886,107894,95896,95888,95895,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-753204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflbroncos","16":"tag-sstsnbroncos","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbiographies-quotations","19":"tag-tagbo-nix","20":"tag-tagbuffalo-bills","21":"tag-tagdenver-broncos","22":"tag-taghistory","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-positive","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116072924120401266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/zwtPPS8PLlw\/maxresdefault.jpg\")