Chris Eitzmann

Christopher John Eitzmann (April 1, 1977 – December 29, 2021) was an American football tight end.[1] He played college football at Harvard and three seasons in the NFL for the New England Patriots and two seasons for the Cleveland Browns.

Chris Eitzmann
No. 46
Position:Tight end
Personal information
Born:(1977-04-01)April 1, 1977
Belleville, Kansas
Died:December 29, 2021(2021-12-29) (aged 44)
Boston, Massachusetts
Height:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:255 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school:Chester-Hubbell-Byron (Chester, Nebraska)
College:Harvard (1995–1999)
Undrafted:2000
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played:5
Games started:1
Player stats at PFR

Early life and college career

Born in Belleville, Kansas, Eitzmann grew up on a farm in Hardy, Nebraska.[2][3] Eitzmann graduated from Chester-Hubbell-Byron High School, a school with only 50 students where he played on an eight-man football team in addition to basketball and track.[4][3]

Eitzmann attended Harvard University after high school and played at tight end for the Harvard Crimson from 1995 to 1999, sitting out the 1996 season due to injury.[3] At Harvard, Eitzmann had 45 receptions for 572 yards and eight touchdowns and was a first-team All-Ivy League and first-team Successful Farming farm All-American honoree as a senior in 1999.[4] Eitzmann withdrew from Harvard for the spring 1997 semester to work at the trading desk of Hellman, Jordan Management in Boston.[3] Eitzmann graduated from Harvard in 2000 with a degree in psychology.[4]

Pro football career

After going undrafted in the 2000 NFL Draft, Eitzmann signed with the New England Patriots as a free agent on April 19, 2000. He was waived on August 27 but signed with the Green Bay Packers the next day. Eitzmann then signed with the Patriots practice squad on September 6, one day after being waived from the Packers.[5] Eitzmann then signed with the Patriots active roster on October 21 and appeared in five games with one start before being placed on injured reserve on December 1.[5][2]

Following the preseason, the Patriots released Eitzmann on September 2, 2001.[4] Eitzmann then signed with the Cleveland Browns practice squad on December 4, 2001. He was then allocated to the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe in 2002.[4] With the Galaxy, Eitzmann played in seven games with five starts, with seven receptions for 64 yards.[6] The Browns waived Eitzmann on September 1, 2002.[7]

Post-football career

Eitzmann moved to Lincoln, Nebraska and became a financial advisor after retiring from football.[8] In 2007, he completed his M.B.A. at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.[9]

Eitzmann was found dead of alcohol poisoning in December 2021 at age 44. He had been suffering from CTE in the last years of his life.[10][11] He was one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease, which is caused by repeated hits to the head.[12][13]

References
  1. "Christopher John Eitzmann Obituary (1977 - 2021) Lincoln Journal Star". Legacy.com.
  2. "Chris Eitzmann Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  3. Tran, Cathy (November 18, 1999). "From the Prairie to the Pigskin". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  4. "Chris Eitzmann". NFL Europe. Archived from the original on February 20, 2003. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  5. "Chris Eitzmann". New England Patriots. Archived from the original on January 17, 2002. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  6. "Chris Eitzmann". Pro Football Archives. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  7. "Transactions". The New York Times. September 2, 2002. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  8. Rosenthal, Brian (September 26, 2004). "Huskers hear about life after football". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  9. Sullivan, Brian K.; O'Neill, James M. (March 14, 2007). "Wall Street playing hardball to recruit top talent". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 15, 2020. Originally published in Bloomberg News as "MBAs May Get Record Pay as Citigroup, Goldman Recruit."
  10. Kent Babb (May 14, 2023). "Football bonded them. Its violence tore them apart. They were roommates and teammates at Harvard, bound by their love of football and each other. Then the game -- and the debate over its safety -- took its toll". Washington Post. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  11. Belson, Ken (November 17, 2022). "A Test for C.T.E. in the Living May Be Closer Than Ever". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  12. "The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)". Concussion Legacy Foundation. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  13. Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller (June 20, 2023). "Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
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