Anthony Robert Graziani (born December 23, 1973) 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 ...

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 Am ...

who played for the

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) NFC South, South division. The Falcon ...

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 majo ...

(NFL), and the Los Angeles Avengers and Philadelphia Soul of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL). Graziani 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at 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 Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

. Graziani was the highest-paid player in the history of the AFL, earning over $200,000 for the 2007 season.

High school career

Graziani attended

Thomas Downey High School Thomas Downey High School (TDHS) is a High School in Modesto, California. It is one of the seven high schools in Modesto. Thomas Downey High is the second oldest high school in the city of Modesto and its doors opened to students in the Fall of 19 ...

in Modesto, California. As a quarterback, he passed for 3,956 yards and 35 touchdowns in his prep career while leading his team to a share of the Central California Conference title.

College career

Graziani was a four-year letterman the

, playing in 28 games in his collegiate football career. At Oregon he majored in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

. He accumulated the following stats: * Completed 362-of-670 for 4,498 yards and 25 touchdowns * Was 92-of-171 for 1,353 yards and eight touchdowns during an injury-plagued senior season in 1996 * As a junior, led the Ducks to the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium in ...

, completing 231-of-426 passes for 2,604 yards and 13 touchdowns * Passed for 287 yards in Oregon’s first victory over

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

at the Coliseum in 23 years in 1994 * Was on the Ducks team that went to the 1995 Rose Bowl

Professional career

National Football League

Graziani was a seventh round pick of the

in the 1997 NFL Draft. He played for the Falcons for three seasons. During his NFL career, he threw for 999 yards, two touchdowns with eight interceptions. He also had 16 carries for 51 yards. Also, during his one-year tenure with 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 Conferenc ...

, he 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 ...

, of NFL Europe, in 2000.

Arena Football League

Los Angeles Avengers

Graziani signed with the Los Angeles Avengers prior to the 2001 season. He completed 23 out of 37 passes that season for 262 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception. He became the starter in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

as he completed 282 out of 467 passes for 3,568 yards, 67 touchdowns, and 1 interception. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

, he completed 304 of 495 passes for 4,290 yards, 96 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, he had his finest season as he completed 333 of 510 passes for 4,265 yards, 99 touchdowns, and five interceptions.

Philadelphia Soul

Prior to the 2005 season, Graziani signed with the Philadelphia Soul and became the highest-paid player in the league. He completed 328 out of 555 passes that year for 4,272 yards, 90 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions as Philadelphia had a disappointing 6-10 season. In an injury-riddled 2006, he completed 232 of 389 passes for 2,981 yards, 41 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, but Philadelphia went 9-7 and made the playoffs for the first time ever. Through Week 4 of the

2007 Arena Football League season The 2007 Arena Football League season was the 21st season of the Arena Football League. The regular season began play on March 1, 2007 and concluded on June 25. The league broke its regular-season total attendance record of 1,887,054. Following a ...

, Graziani had completed 75 of 116 passes for 1,041 yards, 24 touchdowns, and only three interceptions. At the time, the Soul were undefeated at 5-0. In Graziani's third start against the Colorado Crush he threw for eight touchdowns topping out over 300 yards and only one interception. He suffered a shoulder injury in week 6, and was unable to play for the next five games. He came back in week 12 against the

New Orleans VooDoo Louisiana Voodoo (french: Vaudou louisianais, es, Vudú de Luisiana), also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretis ...

and went 7-of-15 for 81 yards and four touchdowns. The Soul won the game 78-34. During Week 1 of the 2008 season Graziani set the Soul franchise single game record for most touchdown passes in a game (nine). In Week 3, he suffered a sprained ankle. He was scheduled to return Week 7 against the San Jose SaberCats, but before the game it was decided he wouldn't play. He returned Week 8 against the Columbus Destroyers, but left the game with an injury. He briefly returned against the Dallas Desperados, but left the game with a concussion. He did not play in the AFL after that.

Post-football career

Graziani is an Insurance Agent with Century Insurance Group and occasional football analyst for the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

family of networks. He is the co-founder of TD Desert Properties. In 2011, he was named field representative for Assemblyman Brian Nestande, who represents portions of the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the citie ...

and

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. He makes his home in Bend, Oregon where he sits on the board for The Office Group, an academic mentoring program for youth. He is also the assistant head football coach at Summit High School.

Personal life

Graziani has worked as an analyst on the Sports USA Radio Network. He is married to his wife Sarah and has three children.

External links

Tony Graziani on Pro Football Reference

Tony Graziani at ArenaFan Online

Tony Graziani at The Football Database

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graziani, Tony 1973 births American football quarterbacks American people of Italian descent Atlanta Falcons players Barcelona Dragons players Cleveland Browns players Living people Los Angeles Avengers players Oregon Ducks football players National Football League announcers Philadelphia Soul players Players of American football from Nevada Sportspeople from Las Vegas