Matthew Stanley Lepsis (born January 13, 1974) 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 wi ...

offensive tackle of 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). He was originally signed by 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 headquar ...

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 1997 and remained with the team until his retirement following the 2007 season. He played college football at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. Lepsis won

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlan ...

as a member of the Broncos.

Early years

Matt Lepsis attended

Frisco High School Frisco High School is a public high school located in Frisco, Texas and is a part of the Frisco Independent School District. In 2015, the school was rated " Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency. History Frisco High School was founded i ...

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2 ...

, and was a letterman in football and track and field. In football, he was an All-Southwest selection and was named the Class 3A Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. In track and field, he was a two-time State Discus Champion.

College career

Lepsis went to the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

, where he earned All-Big Eight Conference honors as a tight end.

Professional career

Lepsis was signed by the Denver Broncos as an

in 1997. He did not miss an offensive snap on a 2004 line that set a franchise record by allowing only 15 sacks, shattering the previous best of 22 sacks set in 1971, to rank third in the NFL. In Week 7 of the 2006 season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in a 17-7 victory over 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 ...

. He once again suffered a season-ending injury, in the 2007 season. On January 1, 2008, he announced to his team that he would be retiring after his performance slipped in 2007 and wanted to end his career on his own term

He officially retired on February 12, 2008.

External links

Denver Broncos bio
1974 births Living people People from Conroe, Texas American football tight ends American football offensive tackles Colorado Buffaloes football players Denver Broncos players Barcelona Dragons players {{offensive-lineman-1970s-stub