Maxwell McCandless Unger (born April 14, 1986) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

who played 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 ...

for 10 seasons. 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 ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and was drafted 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 ...

in the second round of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. Unger was the starting center for the Seahawks in

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

Early years

Unger was born in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He attended

Hawaii Preparatory Academy Hawaii Preparatory Academy (also known as HPA) is a coeducational, private, day and international boarding school in Kamuela, Hawaii, providing K-12 education. The school has an annual day tuition at the Lower School (K-5) of $22,900, $25,300 at th ...

Kamuela, Hawaii Waimea is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 7,028 at the 2000 census and 9,212 at the 2010 census. Since each U.S. state cannot have more than one post office of the same name, and th ...

, where he was a 2002 second-team all-state offensive honoree. Regarded as a three-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, Unger was listed as the No. 45 offensive guard. He chose to attend Oregon over

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. Unger's grandfather, Tom E. Unger, wrote a book about his grandfather, Maximillian Joseph August Schlemmer, titled ''Max Schlemmer, Hawaii's King of Laysan Island''.

College career

Unger enrolled in the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where he played for the

Oregon Ducks football The Oregon Ducks football program is a college football team for the University of Oregon, located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). Although ...

team from 2005 to 2008. While playing for the Ducks, Unger was twice named as a first-team All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

selection, and also receiving honorable mention and second-team All-Pac-10 honors. He was a first-team All-American in 2008 in recognition of his successful season. Unger started on the offensive line in all of his four years with the Ducks.

Professional career

2009 NFL Draft

Projected to be second round selection, Unger was listed as the No. 1 offensive guard available in the

. He was described as "not a great prospect," yet having "starting potential on the NFL level for years to come." Unger was drafted by the Seahawks in the second round with the 49th overall pick. He was the highest selected Oregon Ducks offensive lineman since

Tom Drougas Thomas Christopher Drougas, Jr. (born December 25, 1949) is a former American football player who played offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) in the 1970s. He played high school football at Sunset High School (Beaverton, Oregon) ...

went 22nd overall in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Seattle Seahawks

Unger signed a 4-year contract with the Seahawks worth over $3 million on July 29, 2009. After a pre-season effort in which head coach Jim Mora said "We believe he is ready to start and be a productive player in this league immediately," Unger was named starting right guard over

Mansfield Wrotto Mansfield Chell Wrotto, Jr. (born October 12, 1984) is a Liberian former American football guard who last played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the 20 ...

. In 2012, Unger signed a four-year extension worth a maximum of $24 million making him one of the top 5 paid centers in the NFL. He was one of only three members to remain on the Seahawks from before John Schneider's arrival in Seattle in January 2010, along with

Brandon Mebane Brandon Jerome Mebane (born January 15, 1985) is a former American football defensive tackle. He attended Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles. He played college football at California. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round ...

and

Jon Ryan Jonathan Robert Ryan (born November 26, 1981) is a retired Canadian professional football punter. He played college football for the University of Regina Rams, and began his professional career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL) after being ...

. Unger won his first

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

title with the

, beating the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

by a score of 43–8. In 2013, he also made his second

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

team. In 2014, the Seahawks finished the season with a 12–4 record and made it back to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks failed to repeat as Super Bowl champions after they lost 28–24 to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Super Bowl XLIX Super Bowl XLIX was an American football game played to determine the champions of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conf ...

New Orleans Saints

On March 10, 2015, Unger, along with the Seahawks' first round selection in the

2015 NFL Draft The 2015 NFL Draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. The previous ...

, were traded to the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in exchange for

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

Jimmy Graham Jimmy Graham (born November 24, 1986) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played only one year of college football at Miami Hurricanes football, University of Miami after playing four years of college basketball, basketball ...

. On May 8, 2017, it was reported that Unger suffered a foot injury and was expected to be out for five months and start the 2017 season on the PUP list. However the foot healed quicker than expected and was the Saints starting center for the entire 2017 season, starting all 16 games. Unger was named to his first

with the Saints and his third overall in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Retirement

On March 16, 2019, Unger announced his retirement from the NFL after ten seasons.

References

External links

New Orleans Saints bio

Seattle Seahawks bio

Oregon Ducks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unger, Max 1986 births Living people People from Hawaii (island) Players of American football from Hawaii Sportspeople from Hawaii American football offensive tackles American football centers Oregon Ducks football players Seattle Seahawks players New Orleans Saints players National Conference Pro Bowl players Unconferenced Pro Bowl players