Brian Douglas Kinchen (born August 6, 1965) is an American former football

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. Lik ...

and

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point att ...

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 ...

(NFL) for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

, the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

and the New England Patriots.

Early life

Kinchen was born in Baton Rouge to parents Gaynell "Gus" Kinchen and Tori Kinchen. He attended and played football at University High School. His father was a member of the

1958 LSU Tigers football team The 1958 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University (LSU) in American football during the 1958 NCAA University Division football season. After finishing the season with a 10–0 record the team was named national champion by ...

and one of the famed

Chinese Bandits The Chinese Bandits were the backup defensive unit on coach Paul Dietzel's LSU Tigers football teams, most notably the 1958 and 1959 teams. The name was also used briefly by the Army Cadets football team during Dietzel's coaching tenure at the U.S. ...

College career

At LSU, Kinchen was an All-SEC tight end. He tallied 523 yards and six touchdowns on 48 receptions over 33 career games.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins (1988–1990)

In 1988, the

selected Kinchen in the 12th round of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Ma ...

with the 320th overall pick. In three seasons, he caught two passes for 15 yards over 36 games.

Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens (1991–1998)

In 1991, Kinchen signed with the

where he played for head coach

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick (; born April 16, 1952) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Additionally, he exercises extensive authority over the Patri ...

. Over the next five seasons, he played in all but five regular season games (75 total). His best seasons were from 1993–95 when he caught 73 passes for 795 yards and three

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s in 35 starts. Kinchen was a member of the inaugural

team in 1996 which resulted from the Cleveland Browns relocating to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. In 1996, he had his best season as a tight end with 55 receptions for 581 yards (both career highs) and one touchdown. In three years with the Ravens, Kinchen totaled 79 catches for 786 yards and two touchdowns.

Carolina Panthers (1998–2000)

In his two seasons with the

, Kinchen spent most of his time at long snapper and on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

. As a tight end, he had six catches for 52 yards and one touchdown. After suffering an injury, he was released at the end of the 2000 season.

New England Patriots (2003)

In 2003, Kinchen came out of retirement to replace injured New England Patriots long snappers

Lonie Paxton Leonidas E. "Lonie" Paxton III (born March 13, 1978) is a former American football long snapper. He played college football at Sacramento State and was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2000. Paxton also played ...

and

Sean McDermott Sean Michael McDermott (born March 21, 1974) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, ...

. He joined the team with two regular season games in the season and continued that role throughout the playoffs. With 0:09 left to play, Kinchen snapped the game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Personal life

Kinchen lives in Baton Rouge, where he and his wife Lori have raised their four sons. His brother

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

also played in the NFL. His sons Austin and Hunter Kinchen were long snappers on the LSU football team. Both Brian’s mother Toni and his wife Lori were LSU cheerleaders. Since retiring from football, Kinchen has spent time as a high school football coach and was a volunteer coach for Nick Saban’s 2004 national championship team at LSU. He currently serves as a college football analyst for ESPN. He was also previously a commentator for ESPNU, but was suspended after making a comment during a game that receivers needed to use their "tender" hands to "caress" the ball, and then calling the comment "kind of gay."The Long Snapper: A Second Chance, a Super Bowl, a Lesson for Life by Jeffrey Marx, Pub. Date: August 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinchen, Brian 1965 births Living people Louisiana State University Laboratory School alumni Players of American football from Baton Rouge, Louisiana American football tight ends American football long snappers Miami Dolphins players Cleveland Browns players Baltimore Ravens players Carolina Panthers players New England Patriots players LSU Tigers football players College football announcers