Bruce Matthews (football player)

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Bruce Matthews
Date of birth	August 8, 1961 (age 45)
Place of birth	Raleigh, North Carolina
Position(s)	Offensive line
College	USC
NFL Draft	1983 / Round 1/ Pick 9
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 2000, 2001
Honors	NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
Retired #s	Tennessee Titans #74
Statistics	Pro Football Reference CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1983-1996 1997-1998 1999-2001	Houston Oilers Tennessee Oilers Tennessee Titans
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2007

Bruce Rankin Matthews (born August 8, 1961) is an American former NFL offensive lineman and a born again Christian.

1 Personal
2 College career
3 Professional career
4 External links

[edit] Personal

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Bruce was the son of Clay Matthews, Sr., who played in the NFL in the 1950s. His brother, also named Clay Matthews, played 19 seasons in the NFL. Matthews later moved to Los Angeles, where he was a standout playing on both the offensive and defensive line in high school. He was also an all-league wrestler.

[edit] College career

He attended the University of Southern California, where he played all offensive line positions at various times, earning All-America honors in his senior year and winning the Morris Trophy.

[edit] Professional career

Matthews was drafted ninth in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers, where he would block for the legendary Earl Campbell and eventually play all line positions (guard, center and tackle), going to the Pro Bowl for the latter two. He was selected to fourteen Pro Bowls in all, a league record. His entire career was spent with the Oilers franchise, which relocated in the middle of his career and became the Tennessee Titans. An extremely durable player, Matthews recorded the longest playing longevity at any position. He holds the league record for most games (296) and seasons (19) played by an offensive lineman. Matthews retired after the 2001 season.

In his first year of eligibility, Matthews was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2007. He is the first player for the Tennessee Oilers or Tennessee Titans to be given this honor.