Matt Birk
Birk with the Baltimore 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) | ||||||||
| College: | Harvard (1994–1997) | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1998: 6th round, 173rd pick | ||||||||
| 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 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Minnesota Vikings.
Born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Birk played college football for the Harvard Crimson and was selected in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He spent his first two seasons 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 first-teams during his career. As a free agent following the 2008 season, Birk 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 in 2019. Active in pro-life causes and local Republican politics, Birk joined Scott Jensen's gubernatorial candidacy in March 2022. Jensen and Birk faced incumbents Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan in the general election and lost the race.