Davila Becomes Ninth Quarterback in AFL History to Throw for 500 TDs

Adam Markowitz
Sunday May 11, 2014

Nick Davila has already established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in Arena Football League history by leading the Arizona Rattlers to back-to-back championships and three straight ArenaBowl appearances. Now, he's one of the nine quarterbacks in AFL history to join the 500-touchdown club.

Davila completed a 49-yard TD pass to Rod Windsor in the first quarter to join the 500-club. Last week against the Jacksonville Sharks, Davila surpassed Tony Graziani for ninth place all-time in league history for touchdown passes. Graziani had 494 touchdowns in his career.

Davila now has 58 TDs on the season, leaving him on a pace to throw for what would be a league record 149 scores if he was to stay on this pace for the entire campaign. The current record for touchdown passes in a season is 142, held by Tommy Grady, who set the record in 2012 for the Utah Blaze.

Davila reached the 500 touchdown club in just his 78th career game. To put that in comparison, Raymond Philyaw, who is eighth all-time with 507 career TD passes, played 10 seasons in the AFL to reach 500 scores. Aaron Garcia, the man with the most touchdown passes in AFL history, needed 95 games to reach the 500 mark. No quarterback in AFL history had reached the 500 Touchdown Club in fewer than nine seasons, though it must be noted that all of the best quarterbacks in league history prior to Davila had spent time on the bench behind other quarterbacks and many went through injuries during their stretches as well. Davila also has played in seasons of 16 and 18 games. Most of the top touchdown passers in AFL history only played in 12 and 14 game seasons in their time to reach 500.

Philyaw was the most recent quarterback to reach 500 touchdown passes for his career. The next closest active quarterback is Tommy Grady, who has 437 career TDs.

All-Time AFL Passing Touchdown Leaders

Aaron Garcia (1,310)
Clint Dolezel (931)
Mark Grieb (922)
Sherdrick Bonner (855)
Andy Kelly (809)
John Dutton (752)
John Kaleo (581)
Raymond Philyaw (507)
Nick Davila (500)