Erik Meyer (born December 28, 1982) is a former professional

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 wi ...

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 ...

. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals 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 2006. He played college football at

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

. He was also a member of the Cologne Centurions, Seattle Seahawks. Oakland Raiders,

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...

, Hamilton Tiger-Cats,

Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divisio ...

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

and

Washington Valor The Washington Valor were a professional arena football team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Capital One Arena. The Valor were owned by Monumental Sports ...

Early years

Meyer attended

La Mirada High School La Mirada High School is a public high school in La Mirada, California. It is a member school of the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District which was built in 1960 as one of three high schools in the district. After the Norwalk/La Mirada Schoo ...

La Mirada, California La Mirada ( Spanish for "The Look") is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities. The population was 48,527 at the 2010 census, up from 46,783 at the 2000 census. The La Mirada Theatre f ...

, and was a student and a letterman in football and baseball. He was given the nickname of "Daddy" because he was always known to be a father figure to underclassmen, and his various positions in the community volunteering with children were highlighted at commencement when the school recognized him with the "George R. Shull Excellence in Care Scholarship," voted on by his graduating class and faculty at LMHS.

College career

Meyer was a record-setting quarterback for Eastern Washington University. He won the 2005

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 ...

, presented by

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

to the top offensive player in NCAA

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 Athleti ...

football. In 42 games, he completed 721 of 1097 passes for 10,261 yards, with 84 TD passes against just 17 INTs. His 166.5 career passing efficiency rating set a record for FCS quarterbacks with at least 400 completions. His career interception percentage (1.5) also is a Division I-AA record. He also broke eight Eastern Washington career records, five single-season marks, and one single-game mark. Erik, an avid weight lifter, was the lone skill position player to be a member of the 1200 pound club as a member of the EWU football team. His diligence led him to be inducted into the inaugural Iron Man Club, a plaque small in stature coined by a small fan Joey Dank. It still is a prominent fixture in the Eagle weight facility in Cheney, WA. Notably, Meyer was recognized for excellence in the classroom during his four-year career at EWU. Erik was the recipient of the Joseph Helen Dankert Gold Scholar Award for maintaining a 3.8+ GPA during his time as an Eagle.

Professional career

Meyer was rated the eighth best quarterback in the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with add ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Cincinnati Bengals

Meyer went undrafted in the 2006 NFL Draft. He signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent and attended training camp hoping to contend for a roster spot. Meyer was released from the Bengals on August 28.

Cologne Centurions

In 2007, Meyer was the starting quarterback for the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europa before the league folded. He completed 141 of 205 passes for 1,612 yards, 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He also rushed for 138 yards and 1 touchdown.

Seattle Seahawks

Meyer was signed by the Seattle Seahawks in July 2007. He competed against third-string Seahawk quarterback David Greene and free agent Derek Devine for the third-string job. Meyer was cut by the Seahawks on August 28, 2007.

Oakland Raiders

On March 24, 2008, Meyer was signed by the Oakland Raiders. He was waived on June 25, 2008 to make room for Sam Keller.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On February 24, 2009, Meyer was signed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was released on June 9, 2009.

Spokane Shock

Meyer was signed by the

on December 23, 2009. Meyer appeared in two games connecting on 18 of 28 passes for 274 yards, 5 touchdowns, and one interception.

Utah Blaze

Meyer signed with the

on September 22, 2010. Meyer was the backup to

Tommy Grady Thomas Grady (born March 18, 1985) is an American football quarterback who primarily played in the Arena Football League (AFL). After a standout high school career at Edison High School, Grady signed with the University of Oklahoma to continu ...

Spokane Shock

Meyer was traded back to the

with

Raymond McNeil Raymond McNeil (born October 14, 1984) is an American football offensive lineman who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Fort Valley State University and attended Jurupa Valley High School in Jurupa Valley, California. He h ...

for Khreem Smith and Antonio Narcisse on May 30, 2011. After spending 3 seasons as the backup to

Kyle Rowley Kyle Rowley (born January 30, 1979) is an arena football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He also played in the former af2. He played college football at Brown. Rowley was the first quarterback to win an AFL ArenaBowl and af2 ArenaCu ...

, Meyer was given a chance to start in 2013. Meyer responded by leading the league in touchdown passes, with 112. Meyer's 112 touchdowns and 4,667 passing yards, were both new Shock records. Meyer lead the Shock to a 14–4 record, clinching the #2 seed in the National Conference. Following the season, Meyer was named First-team All-Arena by the AFL. Meyer was recognized again by the AFL, earning

Offensive Player of the Year The National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award is an annual American football award given by various organizations to the National Football League (NFL) player who is considered the top offensive player during the regular season. Or ...

and League MVP Awards. On December 16, 2013, Meyer was assigned to Spokane for the 2014 season.

San Jose SaberCats

On October 10, 2014, Meyer was assigned to the

. He helped the Sabercats to a 17–1 regular season record while earning Second-team All-Arena honors. The Sabercats won

ArenaBowl XXVIII ArenaBowl XXVIII was the championship game of the 2015 Arena Football League season. It was played between the American Conference Champion Jacksonville Sharks and the National Conference Champion San Jose SaberCats. The game was played at Stock ...

against the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

on August 29, 2015.

Washington Valor

Meyer was assigned to the

in February 2017. On May 24, 2017, Meyer was placed on injured reserve. On July 3, 2017, it was announced that Meyer was retiring.

AFL statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

Coaching career

In 2013, Meyer began coaching quarterbacks at

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academic and Student Lif ...

. Meyer has been the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, La Mirada High School since 2008. He has also spent time as the offensive coordinator at La Mirada. In 2017, Meyer became an offensive quality control coach for the California Golden Bears.

References

External links

Utah Blaze bioCalifornia Golden Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Erik 1982 births Living people American football quarterbacks California Golden Bears football coaches Central Washington Wildcats football coaches Cincinnati Bengals players Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) players Eastern Washington Eagles football coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Oakland Raiders players San Jose SaberCats players Seattle Seahawks players Spokane Shock players Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California Utah Blaze players Washington Valor players High school football coaches in California Walter Payton Award winners People from La Mirada, California Players of American football from California