Daunte Rachard Culpepper was born on January 28,1977 and is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League for 11 seasons, primarily with the Minnesota Vikings.
62 Facts About Daunte Culpepper
2.
Daunte Culpepper played college football at UCF and was selected by the Vikings in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft.
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However, Daunte Culpepper suffered a serious knee injury the following season that ended his Vikings career.
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Daunte Culpepper was born to a single mother, Barbara Henderson, who is the sister of former NFL linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson.
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Daunte Culpepper was adopted when he was a day old and raised as one of more than 15 children of the late Emma Lewis Daunte Culpepper, who worked in the correctional facility where his mother was held.
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Daunte Culpepper played football, coached by Alex Castaneda, one of five finalists for the 2000 NFL High School Football Coach of the Year Award, as well as basketball and baseball.
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In 2007, Daunte Culpepper was named to the FHSAA's All-Century Team that listed the top 33 football players in the state of Florida's 100-year history of high school football.
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Later on in his career, Daunte Culpepper celebrated his football touchdowns by moving his hands in the motion that a basketball referee makes when calling traveling, known as "the roll".
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Daunte Culpepper was drafted in the 26th round by the New York Yankees in the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft but did not sign and chose to attend college.
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Daunte Culpepper struggled to get into college, because of low SAT scores.
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Daunte Culpepper rewrote virtually all of the school's quarterback records, approximately 30 in all, many held by Darin Slack since 1987.
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Daunte Culpepper accomplished a feat equaled by only two others in NCAA history when he topped the 10,000-yard passing mark and the 1,000-yard rushing mark in his career.
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Daunte Culpepper finished his career sixth on the NCAA's all-time total offense list for all divisions with 12,459 yards and was responsible for 108 career touchdowns.
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Daunte Culpepper was drafted 11th overall in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings; he was the fourth quarterback chosen, after Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith.
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Randy Moss, wide receiver for the Vikings, said that Daunte Culpepper was one of the most talented quarterbacks he has ever seen following the 2000 season.
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Daunte Culpepper struggled over the next two seasons beginning in 2001 throwing 14 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.
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Daunte Culpepper's rushing total ranked third among NFL quarterbacks, trailing only Pittsburgh's Kordell Stewart and Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb.
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Daunte Culpepper fumbled an NFL record 23 times, losing 9 of them.
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Daunte Culpepper went on to win the EA Sports Madden Bowl title among NFL players during the 2003 offseason.
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Daunte Culpepper's ten rushing scores led all NFL QBs in 2002, and marked the sixth-highest total by a QB in NFL history trailing only Cam Newton and, Steve Grogan, Johnny Lujack, Tobin Rote, Kordell Stewart, and Kyler Murray.
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Daunte Culpepper passed for 3,479 yards, 25 touchdowns, and only 11 interceptions, and earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl.
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Daunte Culpepper broke Dan Marino's NFL record for combined passing and rushing yards, amassing 5,123 total yards.
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Daunte Culpepper's career rushing average of 26.1 yards per game is fourth-best among quarterbacks in NFL history.
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Daunte Culpepper rebounded in the third week, throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns while beating the New Orleans Saints.
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Daunte Culpepper sustained damage to three of the four major ligaments in the knee: the ACL, PCL and MCL.
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Daunte Culpepper was placed on injured reserve and began rehabilitation treatment near his home in Florida.
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Daunte Culpepper's defense contended there was racial discrimination among the prosecution.
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Daunte Culpepper was in negotiations with Zygi Wilf, the new owner of the Vikings, in regard to his contract with the team.
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Rumors surfaced that Daunte Culpepper was unhappy with his status in Minnesota due to the re-emergence of Brad Johnson following his injury.
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Later on, Daunte Culpepper expressed his desire to be out of Minnesota.
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Daunte Culpepper was not insistent on being traded to the Miami Dolphins, and orchestrated his trade without the services of his former agent.
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New Vikings coach Brad Childress likened his dealings with Culpepper to his dealings with Terrell Owens and said he never had a conversation with Daunte that did not involve his contract and getting more money instead of football and the team.
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Daunte Culpepper was traded to Nick Saban's Miami Dolphins in exchange for a second-round draft pick.
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Daunte Culpepper changed his number from 11 back to his original number 8, the same number he had at Vanguard High School and the University of Central Florida.
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The Dolphins debated whether to pursue Daunte Culpepper or Drew Brees during the offseason.
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The Dolphins decided to bring in Daunte Culpepper based on a medical evaluation of the two players.
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Daunte Culpepper was off to a rocky start in his first two regular-season games, losing both of them with fans booing Culpepper and calling for backup Joey Harrington in the second game.
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On November 30,2006, Daunte Culpepper underwent arthroscopic surgery on his previously injured knee to remove a piece of loose cartilage that was causing Daunte Culpepper difficulty.
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On December 12,2006, Daunte Culpepper was placed on injured reserve, officially ending his 2006 season.
40.
Saban stated that although Daunte Culpepper was making progress in his rehabilitation, he and the medical staff felt it would be difficult for Daunte Culpepper to play in the next three weeks.
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Culpepper saw this on TV from his box suite at Dolphin Stadium and immediately walked down to the ESPN booth and waited for Steve Young to finish, then Daunte confronted Young about it and said he has not missed any meetings and that's not who he is.
42.
On January 21,2007, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that despite public assertions by Saban, his decision to bench Daunte Culpepper actually had little to do with his knee and more to do with his head.
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Daunte Culpepper was first and most often linked to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said he did not feel Daunte Culpepper would be a good fit.
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Daunte Culpepper worked out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers soon after his release, but was not acquired by the team.
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In 2007, Daunte Culpepper replaced the injured Josh McCown for the Raiders matchup against his former team, the Miami Dolphins.
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Daunte Culpepper finished the game with two passing and three rushing touchdowns.
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Daunte Culpepper said he suffered the injury during the Week 12 game against the Kansas City Chiefs but it did not begin to bother him until Wednesday.
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Daunte Culpepper visited the Green Bay Packers on April 23 and 24,2008.
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Daunte Culpepper said he was in contact with a few other teams.
50.
Daunte Culpepper worked out with the Pittsburgh Steelers in August 2008, but the Steelers elected to sign Byron Leftwich instead to replace the injured Charlie Batch.
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Daunte Culpepper expressed his frustrations with the NFL in a brief retirement letter.
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The Kansas City Chiefs had spoken to Daunte Culpepper about coming out of retirement for the 2008 season after Brodie Croyle was declared out for the season with an injury.
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Daunte Culpepper played four games with the Lions before suffering a shoulder injury.
54.
Daunte Culpepper said he will respect Matthew Stafford as the starter, but was not opposed to being traded.
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In week 14, versus the Arizona Cardinals, Daunte Culpepper was benched in favor of third string quarterback Drew Stanton after a poor performance.
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Daunte Culpepper signed with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League on June 7,2010.
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Daunte Culpepper was named UFL Offensive Player of the Week, twice in the 2010 season.
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Daunte Culpepper was named the 45th best quarterback of the modern era by Football Nation.
59.
Daunte Culpepper appeared in an episode of George Lopez, along with Donovan McNabb.
60.
Daunte Culpepper appeared in the movie 50 First Dates, in the huddle and throwing a touchdown pass to Jim Kleinsasser when Sean Astin and Drew Barrymore were watching a football game.
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Daunte Culpepper was a guest star at the 2013 Super Bash event hosted by NFL UK in London.
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Daunte Culpepper made cameos in several Cash Money music videos.