Christopher Jon Weinke is a former football and baseball player and current American football coach. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) and spent the majority of his career with the Carolina Panthers. He also spent one season with the San Francisco 49ers. Currently, he is an offensive analyst on the coaching staff at the University of Alabama. Before joining the University of Alabama, he was the quarterbacks coach for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. He played six years of minor league baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays before attending Florida University on a scholarship in 1997 and joining the Florida State Seminoles football team as a quarterback, despite being a fan of the Miami Hurricanes. The team won the 1999 National Championship under his leadership. As the greatest player on his squad, he was awarded the Heisman Trophy by Florida State University and the Davey O’Brien Award, and Johnny Unitas Award. He was the Carolina Panthers’ backup quarterback until 2006 when he was released. In 2007, he ultimately quit the NFL.
Youth and Early Life
Christopher Jon Weinke was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 31, 1972, to Ron Weinke and Betty Weinke.
He attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School, where he became a sports superstar and played first base for the baseball team.
Later, he became an all-state baseball player and was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the second round of the 1990 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
In high school, he captained the hockey team, played quarterback for the football team, and was the best senior quarterback in the country. He made Parade magazine’s All-America team and USA Today’s All-America team and was awarded Minnesota’s Prep Football Player of the Year.
Over seventy Division I institutions, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Miami, Washington, and Wisconsin, were interested in recruiting him, but he ultimately signed a letter of intent to play for Florida State University’s Seminoles.
He took a detour from college to sign a contract to play minor league baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Later, he received a degree in Sports.
Chris Weinke’s Career
Chris Weinke earned a scholarship to attend Florida State University in 1997 and became a quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles football team. He guided the squad to a 9–1 record and the No. 2 national ranking in 1998. Nonetheless, he was compelled to rest until the conclusion of the season due to a neck injury he sustained during the Virginia game.
In 1999, during his junior year, he led the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles to their first national championship, a 46-29 victory over Michael Vick and the Virginia Tech Hokies.
As a senior in 2000, he threw for more than 4,000 yards for the Seminoles and won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player.
The Seminoles were defeated by the Oklahoma Sooners, 13-2, in the third BCS National Championship game in the Orange Bowl. He concluded his career at Florida State University with a 32-3 record. In addition, he holds other university records, including most career passing yards and most career touchdown passes.
In 2001, his jersey was retired, making him the seventh Seminole to do so and the second quarterback. He was selected to the ACC All-Academic Team twice.
He was picked by the Carolina Panthers in the fourth round in 2001. Chris and the Panthers began the season with a victory, but have since lost 15 consecutive games. The terrible record resulted in the dismissal of coach George Seifert. Weinke completed the season attempting an average of 36 passes per game.
Chris played five more years as a backup for the Panthers. In October 2005, he replaced injured starter Jake Delhomme against the Detroit Lions and led the Panthers to a 21-20 victory.
On December 10, 2006, in a game against the New York Giants, he threw for 423 yards, setting a team record for a single game that stood for five years. He started the next two games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons, with his second NFL victory coming against the Falcons. However, the Panthers had lost 17 games he had started, including 15 in 2001 and 2 in 2006.
On December 12, 2007, he departed the Panthers to sign with the San Francisco 49ers. He played with the San Francisco 49ers for one season. He started the final game of the 2007 season, which the Cleveland Browns won 20-7. The 49ers did not hire him for the 2008 season.
Chris Weinke and his family settled in Austin, Texas, following his retirement, where he worked as vice president of marketing and event planning for Triton Financial.
In 2010, he was appointed director of the football-training academy IMG Madden Football Academy in Bradenton, Florida. During the 2011 NFL lockout, he worked part-time with the Carolina Panthers’ number one draft pick, Cam Newton.
He was hired as the quarterback’s coach for the St. Louis Rams in February 2015. In January of 2017, he left his position with the Rams and was replaced by Greg Olson. In March of 2017, he joined the coaching staff at the University of Alabama as an offensive analyst.
Awards & Achievements
Chris Weinke won the Heisman Trophy for Florida State in 2000 while leading the Seminoles to the BCS championship game. He was the oldest player to win the award at 28 years old. In the same year, he also received the Davey O’Brien Award and the Johnny Unitas Award.
Estimated Net Worth
Chris Weinke is one of the wealthiest and most popular football players in the world. According to our research, Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Chris Weinke has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million.