American football player (born 1977)
American football player
Olin Kreutz
Kreutz getting ready before a game in 2008
|
|
Position:
| Center
|
---|
|
Born:
| (
1977-06-09
)
June 9, 1977
(age 46)
Honolulu, Hawaii
, U.S.
|
---|
Height:
| 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
|
---|
Weight:
| 292 lb (132 kg)
|
---|
|
High school:
| Saint Louis School
(Honolulu, Hawaii)
|
---|
College:
| Washington
|
---|
NFL draft:
| 1998
/ Round: 3 / Pick: 64
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
|
|
|
---|
|
Games played:
| 195
|
---|
Games started:
| 187
|
---|
|
|
Player stats at
PFR
|
|
Olin George Kreutz
(
; born June 9, 1977) is an American former professional
football
player who was a
center
in the
National Football League
(NFL) for fourteen seasons. He played
college football
for
University of Washington
, and earned consensus
All-American
honors. He was drafted by the
Chicago Bears
in the third round of the
1998 NFL draft
and spent 13 seasons with Chicago where he was selected to six
Pro Bowls
. He also played four games for the
New Orleans Saints
in 2011. Kreutz was a semi-finalist for the
NFL Hall of Fame
in 2020 after being named to the 2000s All-Decade Team.
Early years
[
edit
]
Kreutz was born in
Honolulu, Hawaii
.
He is the youngest of four sons born to Henry Kreutz, Jr., of
?Aina Haina
. He attended football powerhouse
Saint Louis School
in Honolulu, where he lettered in
high school football
, and was teammates with
Dominic Raiola
, who was two years behind him,
[2]
and
Chris Fuamatu-Ma?afala
.
Kreutz also excelled in wrestling and track and field. He received All-State and SuperPrep All-America honors while serving as football team captain during his senior year, and would additionally go on to win the Hawaii state wrestling heavyweight championship.
College career
[
edit
]
Kreutz attended the University of Washington, where he played for the
Washington Huskies football
team under coach
Jim Lambright
. In 1996, Kreutz was involved in an altercation with defensive tackle Sekou Wiggs in spring practice. It continued in the lockerroom where Kreutz punched Wiggs, leaving Wiggs with a broken jaw.
[3]
Wiggs lost 65 pounds as a result of having his
jaw wired shut
and never resumed his role as a starter.
[4]
Kreutz was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and earned
Pac-10
honors during his junior year, after which he elected to turn pro.
Professional career
[
edit
]
NFL Draft
[
edit
]
According to
Sports Illustrated
, Kreutz was the No. 1 center available in the
1998 NFL draft
.
[6]
He was described as "a good technician" who "has all the physical tools to be a solid NFL player" while being able to "handle really big NT and DT."
[7]
The Chicago Bears drafted Kreutz in the third round, 64th overall.
[8]
He was the highest selected Washington interior lineman since
Ed Cunningham
in
1992
. It was also the second consecutive year in which the Bears selected an offensive lineman from Washington, after
Bob Sapp
in
1997
.
Chicago Bears
[
edit
]
Over his thirteen-year career with the Bears, Kreutz was selected to six
Pro Bowls
, was selected once as a 1st team All-Pro, and was one of the team's most consistent offensive linemen. He started 182 regular-season games for the Bears, second only to
Walter Payton
.
[9]
In an incident eerily reminiscent of his college days, Kreutz drew controversy during the
2005 NFL season
after breaking the jaw of fellow
offensive lineman
Fred Miller
during an off-practice outing.
[10]
The NFL fined both players $50,000. In October 2006, Kreutz was signed to a three-year contract extension through the 2010 season. In 2007, Kreutz was appointed as one of the team's captains.
In 2011, Kreutz chose to end his career with the Chicago Bears after turning down an offer of $4 million for one year. Kreutz was the longest tenured Bears member at the time he left the organization.
[11]
New Orleans Saints
[
edit
]
On August 5, 2011, Kreutz signed with the
New Orleans Saints
for a one-year $2 million contract with an additional $2 million in incentives. Kreutz played in four of the Saints' first six games, missing the other two with a knee injury. He then decided to quit the team, saying that he had lost his "passion" for the game;
[12]
the Saints were reportedly planning to move him to the "left team" list.
[13]
In an interview, Kreutz cited offensive line coach
Aaron Kromer
's recurring expletive-laden tirades as the catalyst for his exit. A confrontation with Kromer resulted in Kreutz inadvertently throwing quarterback
Drew Brees
against a wall. After the incident, Kreutz stated, "it was time for me to go."
[14]
He was waived after leaving the squad on October 22.
Post-retirement
[
edit
]
On August 19, 2015, Kreutz signed on to be in the
WSCR 670 the Score
Bears post game show along with James Williams and
Hub Arkush
, replacing the recently deceased
Doug Buffone
.
In 2019, Kreutz joined
NBC Sports Chicago
's
Football Aftershow
, serving as a Bears gameday analyst alongside Laurence Holmes and former teammates
Lance Briggs
,
Alex Brown
, and
Matt Forte
.
[15]
Kreutz joined CHGO, a Chicago sports media start-up, in 2022 but was fired in May for physically assaulting Adam Hoge, a fellow employee.
[16]
Kreutz later replied to a PR message from CHGO on
Twitter
with a
Mike Tyson
quote, "Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it."
[16]
Kreutz later apologized to Hoge and revealed he was also leaving NBC Sports Chicago.
[17]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Kreutz is married to his high school sweetheart, Wendi; they have six children, and reside in
Bannockburn, Illinois
, but also have a winter home in
Kalama Valley
,
Hawaii
.
[18]
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Kreutz has a 'mean streak' as an anchor on Bears' line"
.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
. October 10, 2001.
- ^
Danny O'Neil (September 29, 2006).
"Seahawks: Bears' Kreutz is "a tough guy"
"
.
The Seattle Times
.
- ^
Blaine Newnham (December 24, 1996).
"Kreutz Learns To Leave His Ferocity On Football Field"
.
Seattle Times
.
- ^
"Olin Kreutz, Combine Results, C - Washington"
.
nflcombineresults.com
. Retrieved
January 20,
2023
.
- ^
"NFL Draft: The Positions:OC"
.
CNN/Sports Illustrated
. April 13, 1998. Archived from
the original
on January 19, 2013
. Retrieved
October 26,
2021
.
- ^
"War Room Value Board"
. Archived from
the original
on September 30, 2000
. Retrieved
March 9,
2022
.
- ^
"1998 NFL Draft Listing"
.
Pro-Football-Reference.com
. Retrieved
2023-03-29
.
- ^
Brewer, Jerry (January 13, 2011).
"Former Washington star Olin Kreutz reflects on a brilliant career"
.
Seattle Times
.
- ^
"FBI to investigate fight between Miller, Kreutz"
.
ESPN
. 2005-11-16
. Retrieved
2023-10-15
.
- ^
"Bears lose leadership with Kreutz departure"
. ESPN. 2011-07-30
. Retrieved
2016-09-16
.
- ^
Mike Triplett,
"New Orleans Saints center Olin Kreutz decides to leave team"
,
Times-Picayune
, October 21, 2011.
- ^
John Clayton
,
"Olin Kreutz not feeling it, leaving Saints"
,
ESPN.com
, October 21, 2011.
- ^
Sigler, John (2018-09-18).
"One-time Saints center Olin Kreutz recounts that time he threw Drew Brees against a wall"
.
Saints Wire
. Retrieved
2018-10-09
.
- ^
"Olin Kreutz to join NBC Sports Chicago's Bears coverage team"
.
NBC Sports Chicago
. August 20, 2019
. Retrieved
August 20,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Young, Ryan (2022-05-03).
"Ex-Bears C Olin Kreutz out at CHGO Sports after he allegedly 'physically attacked' co-worker"
.
Yahoo! Sports
. Retrieved
2022-05-03
.
- ^
Agrest, Jeff (2022-07-28).
"Olin Kreutz talks about incident at CHGO, won't return to NBC Sports Chicago"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
. Retrieved
2022-07-28
.
- ^
Goldsborough, Bob (July 2019).
"Retired Bears center Olin Kreutz sells Lake Forest home for $1.15 million"
.
chicagotribune.com
.
- ^
"Hawaii's Olin Kreutz doesn't seek out the spotlight that continues shining on him"
.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
. February 12, 2005.
|
---|
Offense
| |
---|
Defense
| |
---|
Special teams
| |
---|