Brian Joseph Finneran (born January 31, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was signed by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1998 and also played for the

Barcelona Dragons Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Barcelona Dragons: * Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2003; * Barcelona Dragons (ELF) The Barcelona Dragons are an American football team based in ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Villanova.

Early years

Finneran attended

Santa Margarita Catholic High School Santa Margarita Catholic High School (SMCHS) is a coeducational college preparatory Roman Catholic high school located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, United States. SMCHS is owned and operated by the Diocese of Orange, and was opened in ...

Rancho Santa Margarita, California Rancho Santa Margarita is a city in Orange County, California, United States. One of Orange County's youngest cities, Rancho Santa Margarita is a master-planned community. The population was 47,853 at the 2010 census, up from 47,214 at the 2000 ...

, and finished his three-year career there with a school career-record 177 receptions. Finneran received scholarship offers to play

for the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conferenc ...

and

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

. However, the only school to offer a football scholarship to both Finneran and his twin brother was Villanova.

College career

Finneran and his identical twin brother, Brad, played college football for

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

and were

lettermen The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contempor ...

. As a senior, Finneran had 96 receptions for 1,389 yards, earning

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and being awarded the

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

, which is given to the nation's top

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

offensive player. He had 265 receptions for 3,872 yards and 34 touchdowns over his entire college career. He had his number 25 jersey retired by Villanova in the fall of 2003.

Professional career

Prior to joining the Falcons, Finneran played for the

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

where he was named All-NFL Europe. After coming to America and joining the Falcons, he proved to be a consistent possession receiver. Finneran tore ligaments in his left knee during Falcons practice on July 30, 2006, and missed the entire 2006 season. He missed his second straight season after tearing the reconstructed

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

in his left knee. Before injuries forced him to miss the previous two seasons, he was the preferred target of

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Michael Vick Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980) is a former American football quarterback. Regarded as having transformed the quarterback position with his rushing abilities, he is the NFL leader in quarterback rushing yards and was the league's firs ...

despite generally starting in the slot receiver position. He returned to the field in 2008 but did not start and saw limited action. He was re-signed to a one-year contract on February 11, 2010.

Personal

Brian is married to Erin, and they have four children: Conor, Brynn, Keenan, and Cullen. He is one of the five hosts on ''The Locker Room'', a morning sports talk show on

WCNN WCNN (680 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to North Atlanta and serving the Atlanta-area radio market. It is owned by Dickey Broadcasting and airs a sports radio format. The station is commonly known by the on-air branding as "The Fan". Loc ...

680 The Fan in Atlanta. Finneran also has one of the most powerful and sought-after cards in the Ultimate Team portion of the video game

Madden 25 ''Madden NFL 25'' is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League and published by EA Sports. It was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in August 2013. Instead of numbering it ''Madden NFL 14'' with the year lik ...

due to him being listed as 6'7", two inches taller than his actual height. He is also currently an ambassador for

USA Football USA Football is the national governing body for amateur American football in the United States. It is an independent non-profit based in Indianapolis, Indiana. USA Football designs and delivers premier educational, developmental and competitive p ...

. Finneran made another appearance in Madden 16 as a special "Legends" card available in Ultimate Team and Draft Champions modes, this time at the correct height. The Madden 16 legends card has an overall rating of 91. Finneran received cards of 96 and 99 Overalls that year, the latter being a special "Throwback" to Madden 25. Finneran returned once again to Madden 21 in 2020, with a 93 overall in Ultimate Team. He made his television color commentary debut on April 2, 2016, for the Villanova Team Stream on

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...

for the 2016 Men's Basketball Final Four.

References

External links

Atlanta Falcons bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finneran, Brian 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Mission Viejo, California American football return specialists American football wide receivers Villanova Wildcats football players Atlanta Falcons players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from California Barcelona Dragons players Walter Payton Award winners Ed Block Courage Award recipients