Tom Savage (American football)

Thomas Benjamin Savage (born April 26, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Rutgers, Arizona, and Pittsburgh and was selected by the Houston Texans in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft.

Savage spent the first four seasons of his career with the Texans; during his first three seasons, Savage was primarily a backup, and notably missed the entire 2015 season due to injury. In 2017, he started the most games of his career at seven due to a season-ending injury to Deshaun Watson. After an offseason stint with the New Orleans Saints in 2018, Savage spent parts of the 2018 regular season with the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals without seeing any game action. He then had an offseason stint with the Detroit Lions in 2019.

Early life
Savage was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania on April 26, 1990, to Linda and Tom Savage. His older brother, Bryan, played quarterback at Wisconsin and Hofstra.

At Cardinal O'Hara High School, Savage was a member of the Lions football team for four years and started at quarterback for three. He threw for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior.

College career
Savage enrolled at Rutgers University in 2009 under head coach Greg Schiano. After Rutgers opened the season with a 45–17 loss to Cincinnati, Savage was named the starting quarterback. He led the team to a 9–4 record. During his freshman year at Rutgers, Savage passed for 2,211 yards and 14 touchdowns, while throwing only seven interceptions. In arguably his best game of the year, he completed 14-of-27 passes for a season-high 294 yards and two touchdowns against the University of Central Florida in a 45–24 victory in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl. He was named on the All-American Freshman Team by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).

In the 2010 season, Savage threw for 521 passing yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. Early in the season, he was sidelined by a hand injury and replaced with freshman quarterback Chas Dodd. Dodd remained the starting quarterback based on his performance against Connecticut in his first ever start. On January 8, 2011, Savage announced he would transfer from Rutgers University. Rutgers granted Savage a conditional release. In February 2011, he announced that he was transferring to Arizona. Savage missed the 2011 season due to NCAA transfer rules, but was eligible to play in 2012.

Late in 2011, Savage announced his departure from Arizona, a move which followed the announcement that Arizona had hired Rich Rodriguez as head coach. Savage later transferred to Pittsburgh, where he redshirted in 2012. Savage initially wanted to play at Rutgers again; however, a hardship waiver was denied by the NCAA.

On August 14, 2013, Pitt head coach Paul Chryst officially named Savage the starting quarterback for the 2013 season opener against Florida State. On September 21 against Duke, he threw for 424 yards and six touchdowns in the 58–55 victory. Savage finished the season with 2,958 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

Savage majored in communications.

2014 season
In the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft, Savage was selected 135th overall by the Houston Texans. He was the seventh quarterback to be selected that year.

On May 15, 2014, Savage signed a four-year contract with the Texans.

During a Week 13 45–21 victory over the Tennessee Titans, Savage made his NFL debut and had two kneel-down plays. Two weeks later, Savage had his first significant playing time after Ryan Fitzpatrick broke his leg against the Indianapolis Colts. Savage finished the 17–10 loss completing 10-of-19 passes for 127 yards and an interception.

2015 season
On September 5, 2015, Savage was placed on injured reserve by the Texans with a shoulder injury. Due to his injury, Savage saw no playing time in 2015.

2016 season
On December 18, 2016, Savage entered the Week 15 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second quarter after starter Brock Osweiler was benched after throwing for 48 yards and back-to-back first-half interceptions. Savage brought the Texans back from a 13–0 deficit and completed 23-of-36 passes for 260 yards as he led the Texans to a narrow 21–20 comeback victory. Savage was named the starter for the Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. In that game, he completed 18-of-29 passes for 176 yards during the narrow 12–10 victory, clinching the AFC South title for the Texans. During the regular-season finale against Titans, Savage completed five of eight passes for 25 yards before leaving the eventual 24–17 road loss in the second quarter with an apparent concussion, but later returned to the game for one play, which was a kneel down at the end of the half. During halftime, he was re-evaluated for a concussion and ruled out for the rest of the game.

Savage finished the 2016 season with 461 passing yards and no touchdowns or interceptions in three games and two starts. Due to his injury, Osweiler started in the Wild Card Round against the Oakland Raiders, which the Texans won by a score of 27–14. Shortly after the game, head coach Bill O'Brien announced that Osweiler would remain the team's starter for the Divisional Round against the New England Patriots. Savage then cleared concussion protocol and was Osweiler's backup in the Divisional Round. The Texans lost on the road by a score of 34–16.

2017 season
In 2017, Savage was competing for the Texans' starting job after the team drafted Deshaun Watson in the first round. After a strong preseason, Savage was named the starter to begin the season. He started in the season-opening 29–7 loss to the Jaguars but was benched at halftime in favor of Watson. Savage completed 7-of-13 passes for 62 yards, was sacked six times, and fumbled twice, including one that was returned for a touchdown by defensive end Dante Fowler, making the score 19–0 at halftime. Watson then started the next six games for the Texans.

On November 2, Watson tore his ACL during practice, prematurely ending his season and putting Savage in line to be the starter. Savage then started in the team's Week 9 20–14 loss to the Colts, completing 19-of-44 passes for 219 yards and his first NFL touchdown, a 34-yard pass to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in the fourth quarter. Two weeks later against the Arizona Cardinals, Savage had his first two-touchdown game. He finished the 31–21 victory completing 22-of-32 passes for 230 yards for the two aforementioned touchdowns and an interception. During a Week 13 24–13 road loss to the Titans, Savage finished with a career-high 365 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception. In the next game against the San Francisco 49ers, he completed 6-of-12 passes for 63 yards before leaving the eventual 26–16 loss late in the second quarter after suffering a concussion. Savage was placed on injured reserve on December 23, 2017. During the process, the Texans were suspected to have violated the concussion protocol policy but were not disciplined.

Savage finished the 2017 season with 1,412 passing yards, five touchdowns, and six interceptions in eight games and seven starts.

New Orleans Saints
On March 16, 2018, Savage signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the New Orleans Saints. On September 1, he was released after Teddy Bridgewater was named the backup quarterback.

San Francisco 49ers
On October 16, 2018, Savage signed with the San Francisco 49ers. He was released on October 20, but was re-signed two days later. Savage was released on November 1, but was re-signed the next day. He was waived again on November 24.

Cincinnati Bengals
On November 26, 2018, Savage was claimed off waivers by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Detroit Lions
On April 9, 2019, Savage signed with the Detroit Lions. He was released on August 31.

Personal life
Savage married Catie Varley in 2015. They have two children.