Norm Snead, a National Football League quarterback for 16 seasons in the 1960s and ’70s and a four-time Pro Bowl selection, died on Sunday at his home in Naples. Fla. He was 84.
His wife, Susan Patsel, confirmed the death. but did not specify a cause.
Snead was a highly touted college prospect out of Wake Forest University, where he set more than a dozen records in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He became the second overall pick in the 1961 N.F.L. draft, selected by the Washington Redskins (now known as the Commanders).
In his pro career, however, his skills did not generally coincide with winning. Over 159 starts, he went 52-100-7.
He twice appeared in the Pro Bowl while playing in Washington, but the team had a losing record for three straight seasons. After getting booed by the fans, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for the quarterback Sonny Jurgensen and the defensive back Claude Crabb.
Jurgensen, who was with the Eagles when they won a league championship in 1960, became the face of the franchise for Washington, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was a broadcaster for the team for decades.
The Eagles never reached the playoffs in the seven seasons Snead spent with the team. In 1965 he was again picked for the Pro Bowl, when he threw for 15 touchdowns and 2,346 yards. But he courted boos once again, and he was traded to the Minnesota Vikings.
In Minnesota, he was benched in favor of Gary Cuozzo. Then he was traded again, with the New York Giants sending the quarterback Fran Tarkenton to the Vikings in exchange for Snead, two more players and draft picks.
“Snead has this image as a loser,” the newspaper columnist Buddy Martin wrote after the trade.
Snead talked to Martin about the troubles he had encountered the previous season. “Many nights I’d come home and I’d say, ‘I think I’ve got it,’” he said. “Then I’d go out the next day and start changing things, trying to find some kind of magic. I become a worse football player for it and I hurt my team.”
The trade placed Snead on a club without much hope: The Giants had finished last in their division in 1971.
But Snead — a traditional drop-back passer with a zest for throwing long — returned to form in 1972, once again winning selection to the Pro Bowl and setting high marks in passing accuracy (60.3 percent), total yards (2,307) and touchdowns (17). He crushed one of the teams that had traded him, the Eagles, when the Giants beat them, 62-10 — a game that remains the highest-scoring in franchise history. The Giants narrowly missed the playoffs with an 8-6 record.
That turned out to be a brief interlude of respectability. In 1973, a dismal two-win season, the Giants went back and forth between Snead and Randy Johnson as their starting quarterback. Their final game that year constituted an undignified coup de grâce: Tarkenton’s Super Bowl-bound Vikings clobbered the Giants, 31-7.
Snead hung around the N.F.L. for another three seasons. In his final appearance, playing for the Giants against Washington in 1976, he recorded an improbable feat: With three of 14 passes completed for just 26 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, he had a passer rating of zero — but the Giants still won, 12-9, on the strength of four field goals by Joe Danelo.
Norman Bailey Snead was born on July 31, 1939, in Halifax County, Va. He grew up in the city of Newport News. His father, Hugh, was a farmer, and his mother, Louise, managed the household.
After retiring, Snead and his wife worked as realtors in Florida. He is survived by five children; a brother, Danny; and many grandchildren.
After having endured fan opprobrium for years, Snead told Martin that he had experienced a revelation one day about watching sports.
He went to a racetrack and bet on a horse being ridden by an amateur jockey. The horse started out fast; then the jockey let up on him.
“When he lost the race I was really cursing and yelling,” Snead said. “Then I realized what I was doing. I had expected that jockey to win and do well. Now I understand why people have the right to boo.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting.