Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. A three time Super Bowl champion, Young was named the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1992 and 1994. He previously played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who drafted him. Prior to his NFL career, Young played for the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League (USFL) for two seasons. He played college football for the BYU Cougars, setting school and NCAA records. In 2001, Young was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Young left the fledgling USFL after the 1985 season to join the Buccaneers. Two seasons of underwhelming play led Tampa Bay to trade him to the 49ers in 1987. A quarterback controversy ensued as he spent several seasons backing up starting quarterback Joe Montana, who had previously led San Francisco to two Super Bowl championships and would quarterback two more Super Bowl wins. Young became the 49ers' full-time starting quarterback in 1991. He was named the AP's NFL Most Valuable Player in 1992 and 1994, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX where he led the 49ers to a victory over the San Diego Chargers with a record six touchdown passes. During his 1994 MVP campaign, Young set a new NFL record for passer rating at 112.8. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Young was an extremely efficient passer, leading the league in passer rating a record six times and completion percentage and yards per attempt five times. At the time of his retirement, Young had the highest passer rating among NFL quarterbacks with at least 1,500 passing attempts (96.8). As of 2025, he was ranked fourteenth all time in passer rating, and was ranked fourth-highest amongst retired players, behind only Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Tony Romo. Young's 43 career rushing touchdowns are fourth among quarterbacks, while his 4,239 rushing yards ranks sixth all time.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Young attended Eastern Middle School, and Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he played quarterback on its Cardinals football team.
Young earned 1978 All-FCIAC West Division First Team honors in his junior year, his first year as a starter. In his senior year, Young rushed for 13 touchdowns and earned All-FCIAC West Division First Team honors, and was named to the CIAC All-State team. In the rush-first option offense run by Greenwich, he completed only 41 percent of his throws for 1,220 yards, but ran the ball 267 times for 1,928 yards. On Thanksgiving Day in November 1979, Greenwich lost to Darien High School, known for its "Tidal Wave Defense", 17–0. During his senior year, Young was co-captain of the football, basketball, and baseball teams. In basketball, he averaged 15 points a game. In baseball, Young hit .384 and played center field when he was not pitching. Young was 5–1 and threw a 3–0 no-hitter against New Canaan High School.
Young was heavily recruited by the University of North Carolina. Coach Dick Crum was enamored of Young's running ability, and wanted him to run his option offense. Young instead chose BYU. Initially, he struggled at throwing the ball, and BYU's coaching staff considered switching him to defensive back because of his athleticism. However, Young worked hard to improve his passing skills and eventually succeeded record-setting Jim McMahon as BYU's starting quarterback. In his senior season, Young led the nation in passing yards (3,902), passing touchdowns (33), passer rating, and his 71.3% completion percentage set an NCAA single-season record. Young also added 544 yards rushing. With Young at quarterback, BYU set an NCAA record by averaging 584.2 yards of total offense per game, with 370.5 of those yards coming from his passing and rushing. The Cougars finished the year with an impressive 11–1 record; Young was named a unanimous All-American and received the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, which recognizes the nation's best collegiate quarterback each year. He also finished second in voting for the Heisman Trophy, behind Nebraska running back Mike Rozier. Young capped his college career by scoring the game-winning touchdown on a pass from the halfback in BYU's 21–17 victory over Missouri in the 1983 Holiday Bowl.
Young finished his college career with 592 pass completions for 7,733 yards and 56 touchdowns, along with 1,048 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. He was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
At the time Young left college the USFL was proving a serious challenge to the established NFL, and he had a choice to be a top pick in either league.
Young was selected by the USFL Los Angeles Express in the first round (11th overall) of the 1984 draft held that January. Express general manager Don Klosterman told Young that if he signed with the Express, his head coach would be John Hadl, a former All-Pro quarterback who had shepherded John Elway through his first year in the NFL. Klosterman also told Young that Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman, who had been hired as a consultant, would tutor him on how to be a pro quarterback.
The regular 1984 NFL draft would not be held until May. To help influence his decision, the Express offered an all-sports record 10-year, $40 million contract. Young was convinced, and signed with the Express in March 1984. He agreed to take his payment in the form of an annuity paid out over forty years to help the fledgling team.
After missing the first six games of his rookie season while taking some college classes in order to graduate on time, Young started the final 12 games. He had a respectable year, highlighted by becoming the first pro football player ever to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 in a single game.
Despite a roster which included future NFL players such as Jojo Townsell, Mel Gray, and Kevin Nelson, and making the Western Conference title game in Young's first season, the Express were never able to create a sustaining fan base in Los Angeles. They often played to sparse crowds that looked even more so in the then-95,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Near the end of the 1984 season, Express owner J. William Oldenburg was forced to give up control of the team after multiple reports revealed he had misrepresented his net worth. Houston Gamblers minority owner Jay Roulier was cleared to buy the team, only to be pushed out shortly before the 1985 preseason when it emerged that he too had lied about his finances. For all intents and purposes, the Express' 1985 season ended at that point. The league took over the team and cut the budget to the bare minimum. Notably, no money was allocated to replace injured players. This left the Express in a precarious position when a rash of injuries decimated the roster. Even before then, Young and the other young players concluded that the Express would not be around for the planned move to a fall schedule in 1986, even if the USFL survived. With this in mind, they played tentatively so as not to harm their NFL prospects. As a result, despite fielding essentially the same team as a year prior, the Express cratered to a 3–15 record.
Before the Express' final home game — which had been moved to Los Angeles Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley — the bus driver refused to leave unless he was paid up front, in cash. Young contributed some money, as did the team trainer, and the driver took them to the game. In the season finale at Orlando, Young had to line up at tailback because the Express had no healthy running backs left on the roster.
It was reported that Young had insured his contract and would still be paid until 2027. However, facing the prospect of both a faltering owner and an unstable league, Young had already renegotiated his 10-year deal down to 4 years, and had already collected a total of $4.8 million of the $5.8 million due in total through the final year of that deal (in 1987), working out to an annual rate of pay of $2.4 million for his first two seasons that was the highest in all of American sports. Included in that negotiation was a payment of $1.4 million for the balance of the 10-year annuity (less money paid out against it), and salaries for the remaining two years of the deal "in excess of $450,000" annually according the USFL Commissioner then overseeing the LA Express (which had fallen into receivership).