Jeremy McKinney

Jeremy Adam McKinney (born January 6, 1976) is a former American football offensive guard who played two seasons in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Iowa and attended Horizon High School in Thornton, Colorado.^[1] He was also a member of the St. Louis Rams and Houston Texans.^[2]

Early years

McKinney attended Horizon High School where he played offensive and defensive tackle. As a senior he received All-state and All-American honors. In his career he registered over 100 tackles, nearly 50 tackles for loss, 7 forced fumbles and more than 25 sacks. He also practiced baseball.

He accepted a scholarship from the University of Iowa, where as a freshman played on the offensive line for the first 4 games, before moving to defensive tackle for the last 7 games (2 starts) and recording 22 tackles (2 for loss), one sack and a pass defensed. The next year he was moved back to offense, starting five games at left tackle and being used on both sides of the line.

He became a regular starter at right tackle as a junior and in his last year, he contributed to the team leading the Big Ten Conference in rushing offense (ranked eighth in the nation) and scoring offense.

Professional career

St. Louis Rams

McKinney was signed as an undrafted free agent by the St. Louis Rams on April 20, 1998.^[3] He was waived on August 30 and signed to the practice squad.^[4] Before the start of the 1999 season, the Rams were going to waive McKinney injured (wrist), but because they were late reporting it to the NFL office, they were forced by the league two waive a different player.^[5][6]

Cleveland Browns

On December 16, 1999, he was signed by the Cleveland Browns as a free agent.^[7] He was placed on the injured reserve list on August 16, 2000.^[8] He returned the next year and was named the starter at right guard on October 21, in place of an injured Tre Johnson.

Houston Texans

McKinney was selected in the eleventh round of the 2002 expansion draft by the Houston Texans.^[9] After being waived on September 1, he was re-signed 5 days later because of injuries on the offensive line.^[10] He was cut on September 10, 2002.

Dallas Cowboys

On October 18, 2002, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent. He also became part of history as the starting left guard on the Cowboys offensive line that helped Emmitt Smith eclipse Walter Payton as the NFL's all-time leading rusher, playing against the Seattle Seahawks on October 27.

On November 5, he underwent angioplasty surgery after suffering shortness of breath, while flying back home from the Detroit Lions game.^[11] On November 13, he was placed on the non-football injury list and was lost for the season. He was released on February 20, 2003, because of his health condition.^[12]

References

External links

• Just Sports Stats
• Iowa Hawkeyes bio