| No. 66, 75, 72 | |||||||||
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| Position | Offensive tackle | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1971-02-12)February 12, 1971 (age 54) York, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 335 lb (152 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Morse (San Diego, California) | ||||||||
| College | Washington (1989–1992) | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1993: 1st round, 9th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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| Stats at ArenaFan.com | |||||||||
Tamerlane Lincoln Kennedy (bornTamerlane Fizel Kennedy Jr., February 12, 1971) is an American former professionalfootball player who was anoffensive tackle who played in theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theWashington Huskies, and was recognized as aunanimous All-American in 1992.
A first-round selection in the1993 NFL draft, Kennedy played eleven seasons in the NFL for theAtlanta Falcons andOakland Raiders, then three years for theTampa Bay Storm of theArena Football League (AFL). He is currently a broadcaster for theLas Vegas Raiders andPremiere Radio Networks.
Born inYork, Pennsylvania,[1] Kennedy grew up in thesoutheast part ofSan Diego, California. His birth name was Tamerlane Fizel Kennedy Jr., but his mother called him "Little(Abraham) Lincoln", referring to their shared birthday (February 12). The nickname stuck, and Lincoln had it legally changed after college. He graduated from San Diego'sSamuel F. B. Morse High School in 1988,[2] where he playedfootball for the Morse Tigers.[3]
Kennedy attended theUniversity of Washington inSeattle, where he played for theHuskies under head coachDon James. Afterredshirting as a true freshman in1988, he was switched from defense to offense.[3] In1991 and1992, he was the recipient of theMorris Trophy, awarded annually to the outstanding offensive lineman in thePacific-10 Conference. As a senior, he was a consensus first-teamAll-American in1992, and started in his third consecutiveRose Bowl; ayear earlier, the Huskies went undefeated and shared thenational championship (withMiami).
Kennedy was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2015.[4] He was inducted into theRose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2023.[5]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 358 lb (162 kg) | 36+1⁄8 in (0.92 m) | 10 in (0.25 m) |
Kennedy was the ninth overall pick in the first round of the1993 NFL draft, taken by theAtlanta Falcons.[6][7] He started atleft guard throughout hisrookie season in1993, but lost the job thefollowing year to veteran free agentDave Richards, out ofUCLA.
After a disappointing1995 season, Kennedy was traded to theOakland Raiders in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the1997 NFL draft, where he started atright tackle in all but three games of his first seven seasons there. In November1999, during aMonday night game against theDenver Broncos atMile High Stadium,[8] Kennedy went after a fan who hit him in the face with a snowball.[9][10][11] As a member of the Raiders, Kennedy was named to three consecutivePro Bowls and anchored the offensive line inSuper Bowl XXXVII.
After leaving the field in 2004, Kennedy's degree in speech communications prepared him to accept a position with theNFL Network as one of the hosts ofNFL Total Access.[12]
In 2005, his attempted comeback with theDallas Cowboys failed, due to his inability to pass the team physical.
In 2007, 2008, and 2010, he played for theTampa Bay Storm in the Arena Football League.
Kennedy currently works forFox Sports Radio as show co-host. He is also a co-host onLas Vegas radio stationRaider Nation Radio 920 AM. He has calledPac-12 college football games as the color analyst and as a track reporter duringNASCAR races. In2013, he joined the Oakland Raiders radio broadcast team atCompass Media Networks; he was promoted to color commentator in2018, partnered with play-by-play announcerBrent Musburger.On Saturday morning, April 17, 2021, Kennedy announced that he would go on hiatus from his Fox Sports Radio assignment.
Kennedy made an appearance onArliss in 2000 (Episode: 504: "Comings and Goings"), and appeared inTwo and a Half Men in 2005, ("Principal Gallagher's Lesbian Lover"). He appears as himself in the 2006 filmThe Marine.
His son,Zach Banner, was born in December 1993, and is anoffensive tackle. While Banner is his biological son, he was raised by Ron Banner, who married his son's mother and legally adopted him.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Banner had no idea who Lincoln Kennedy was, or that he was his real father, until he was in seventh grade.[20]
Once, not long after the death ofJohn F. Kennedy Jr., Kennedy made the remark onESPN'sSportsCenter that, "My name's Lincoln Kennedy, I ain't got a chance," in reference to the assassination of PresidentsAbraham Lincoln andJohn F. Kennedy.
Kennedy held the all-time record on the "Wall of Fame" at Seattle eatery Shultzy's Sausage before the restaurant changed locations and did away with the Wall. In his record-setting effort, he consumed 11 of the restaurant's signaturelink sausages onFrench rolls and a largeCoca-Cola within one hour.[21]