.jpg) Birk with the Ravens in 2012 | |||||||||
| No. 75, 78, 77 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Center | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | July 23, 1976 Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 310 lb (141 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Cretin-Derham Hall (Saint Paul, Minnesota) | ||||||||
| College: | Harvard (1994–1997) | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1998 / round: 6 / pick: 173 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Matthew Robert Birk (born July 23, 1976) is an American former professional football player who was a center for in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He spent most of his professional career playing for the Minnesota Vikings.[1][2] He was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, running alongside Scott Jensen in the 2022 Minnesota gubernatorial election.
Born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Birk played college football at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics and entered the 1998 NFL draft. He was selected towards the end of the draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He spent his first two seasons with the Vikings as a backup offensive lineman. He became the starting center in 2000 and went on to be selected to six Pro Bowls and two All-Pro second-teams during his career with the Vikings. As a free agent following the 2008 season, Birk left the Vikings and joined the Baltimore Ravens. After the Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII, Birk retired from the NFL. In 2011 he was awarded the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
Following his retirement in 2012, Birk returned to Minnesota. He started a Catholic school in Burnsville, Minnesota in 2019.[3] Active in pro-life causes and local Republican politics, Birk joined Jensen's gubernatorial candidacy in March 2022.[4] Jensen and Birk faced incumbents Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan in the general election and lost the race.
- ^ "The Official Site of the Minnesota Vikings". www.vikings.com. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
- ^ "The 30 greatest Minnesota Vikings players of all-time". The Viking Age. June 19, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
- ^ "Former Viking star Matt Birk has started a school focused on learning over athletics". Twin Cities. October 23, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
- ^ Hauser, Tom (March 4, 2022). "Super Bowl Champ to be Jensen's running mate for MN governor". KSTP. Retrieved March 7, 2022.