When the Green Bay Packers
selected Matt Hasselbeck
in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft, it wasn't supposed to mean much. He was just another late-round quarterback buried behind names like Brett Favre in a rather crowded Green Bay room. But while most didn't see anything in him, Andy Reid did. And he asked him to take on an unconventional role to put him on the roster.
"Andy Reid saw something in me that I didn't even see in myself," Hasselbeck revealed on the Ross Tucker Podcast. "I was a sixth-round pick, pick 187, cuts came, and he said, 'Listen, there's really nothing for a third-string quarterback to do at practice. There's definitely nothing to do for a fourth-string quarterback to do at practice, but I like you. Would you be willing to be on our practice squad? You come to quarterback meetings, you do quarterback individual, but play scout team tight end every day.'
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"And I was like, 'Yeah, dude, I'll do anything to be on this team. My dad was a tight end. I love tight end. I got a great three-point stance.' And so, that whole year, 17 games, I would pretend to try to block Reggie White in practice."
Hasselbeck, the son of former New England Patriots
tight end Don Hasselbeck, spent four years at Boston College and was preparing for the NFL Scouting Combine. However, the quarterback wasn't invited to the combine ahead of the 1998 NFL draft. His agent, at that time, asked him not to worry about anything, given that Hasselbeck was expecting all teams to come to Boston for his Pro Day. But only one person showed up: Andy Reid.
Eventually, the Packers drafted him with the 187th overall pick. While Hasselbeck was shocked, his father told him that his selection carried significant weight, given that the Packers picked him at a time when Ron Wolf was the team's general manager, Mike Holmgren was the head coach, and Brett Favre was fresh off multiple Super Bowl appearances.
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Still, earning the starting job was tough for Hasselbeck. Behind Favre, Green Bay
had Doug Pederson; they had just signed David Klingler. Then they had Kyle Wachholtz from USC, Chris McCoy from Navy, Ronnie McAda, you name it. Hasselbeck was just a sixth-round rookie out of Boston. And that's when Andy Reid asked him to play scout team tight end and block Reggie White.
Blocking one of the best defensive ends at that time in the NFL wasn't an easy job. Still, Hasselbeck survived his rookie season. But Green Bay was never his final destination. In fact, his rookie season in the NFL was Coach Holmgren's final season as the Packers' head coach before he became the Seattle Seahawks
' head coach.
"I really didn't think Mike Holmgren knew my name that one year I was on the practice squad while he was in Green Bay," Hasselbeck said after his NFL retirement. "I was the fourth-string quarterback. Every practice, I played scout team tight end blocking Reggie White, then I went to quarterback meetings."
But Holmgren knew who Hasselbeck was as he traded for him ahead of the 2001 season. Upon his arrival in Seattle, the Seahawks were a struggling team and had been to the postseason just five times in their history. While Hasselbeck had to fight with Trent Dilfer to establish himself in Seattle, he eventually led the Seahawks to five consecutive postseasons from 2003 to 2007, while also making a Super Bowl appearance.
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During that stretch, the quarterback also earned three Pro Bowl selections, while the Seahawks captured four division titles and won their first NFC Championship in franchise history. That said, a career that began with Hasselbeck as a fourth-string quarterback and scout team tight end eventually turned into a successful NFL run. After an 18-year career, Matt Hasselbeck announced his retirement in 2016.
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The post "Play Tight End": Andy Reid Told Legendary QB to Switch Position Every Day to Survive Roster Cuts at Packers
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