Matthew Steven Lehr (born April 25, 1979) 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 ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

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

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, Atlanta Falcons,

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

and

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 ...

. He was selected by the

in the fifth round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

Early years

Lehr attended Woodbridge High School, where he was a two-way player at

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

. He was a three-time All-District and All-Northwest selection. As a junior, he received second-team All-state honors. As a senior, he posted 40 tackles and 6 sacks, while being named to the All-state team. He was also an All-State selection in the shot put.

College career

Lehr accepted a football scholarship from

. He appeared in 4 games as a freshman. The next year, he missed the first 2 games with an ankle injury, and became a starter at

in the 10th game of the season against

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, blocking for

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 ...

Michael Vick Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980) is a former American football quarterback. Regarded as having transformed the quarterback position with his rushing abilities, he is the NFL leader in quarterback rushing yards and was the league's firs ...

. As a junior, he was the regular starter at left guard, on a team that played in the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

against Florida State University. He allowed only one sack and 3 quarterback pressures, leading the team with 57 knockdown blocks. As a senior, he helped his team break the conference's rushing record with 270.5 rushing yards-per-game, which was also set by Virginia Tech the previous year. He surrendered only half a sack and 5 quarterback pressures, leading the team with 57 knockdown blocks.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Lehr was selected in the fifth round (137th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft by the

. Although he only played

in college, he was expected to be the eventual replacement for Mark Stepnoski at

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 ...

. Lehr struggled during his time with the Cowboys because he lacked size and strength. As a rookie, he played eight games as a backup

. In 2002, he was beat by Andre Gurode for the starting

position and Lehr remained mainly as a backup at

and

, making 4 starts (2 in each position). In 2003, Gurode was moved to guard and rookie Al Johnson missed the season with a right knee injury, which opened the door for Lehr to start 16 games at

on a team that made the playoffs. The next year, Johnson regained the starting center position and Lehr only started 2 games at right guard. On December 28, 2004, he was waived to create room to promote players from the practice squad.

St. Louis Rams

In 2004, he was claimed off waivers by the

, but was inactive for the season finale and their two playoff games.

Atlanta Falcons

On March 11, 2005, he signed as a

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 ...

with the Atlanta Falcons to help replace guard

Roberto Garza Roberto Garza (born March 26, 1979) is a former American football center. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round (99th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft, and in 2005, joined the Chicago Bears, spending ten seasons with the team ...

. He started 15 games at left guard. The next year, he remained a starter, but was suspended for 4 games due to violating the NFL Substance Abuse Policy. On November 20, he returned to start the remaining games of the season. He was released on March 5, 2007.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On February 5, 2007, he signed as a

with the

, to compete for the left guard position, while

Dan Buenning Daniel Robert Buenning (born October 26, 1981, in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is a former American football guard. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft, and also played professionally for the Chicago Bear ...

recovered from knee surgery. He played in all 16 games, but was used mostly 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 ...

. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

New Orleans Saints

On March 22,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, he signed with the

reuniting him with head coach and former Cowboys offensive coordinator Sean Payton. On September 7 he was cut and re-signed 2 days later. On September 13, he was released and re-signed 4 days later. He appeared in 13 contests and started 3 games in place of center Jonathan Goodwin, who was sidelined with a partially dislocated kneecap. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Tennessee Titans

On August 25, 2009, he was signed as a

by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

. He was released on September 1.

Personal life

Lehr picked up the sport of

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

and trained regularly with IFBB Pro

Branch Warren Branch Warren is an American retired IFBB Pro League professional bodybuilder. Early life Warren was born in Tyler, Texas. He grew up on a cattle ranch and later moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Career Warren placed second at the 2009 Mr. Olympia, t ...

. Lehr lives in the Dallas area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehr, Matt 1979 births Living people People from Woodbridge, Virginia Sportspeople from Prince William County, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia American football centers American football offensive guards Virginia Tech Hokies football players Dallas Cowboys players St. Louis Rams players Atlanta Falcons players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players New Orleans Saints players American sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in American football