Daniel Patrick Neil (born October 21, 1973) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who spent his entire eight-year career as an

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for the

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of the

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(NFL). He played

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for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

, earning consensus

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honors in 1996. He was selected by the Broncos in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft. Neil was a candidate for the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

in the 2010 general election.

Early life

Neil was born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. He attended Cypress Creek High School in suburban Houston, where he played

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for the Cypress Creek Cougars.

College career

He accepted an

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to attend the University of Texas at Austin, and played for the

Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate team representing the University of Texas at Austin (variously Texas or UT) in the sport of American football. The Texas Longhorns, Longhorns compete in the NCAA Division I Football B ...

team from 1993 to 1996. He was a first team

in 1995 and a consensus first-team

in 1996. He helped Texas win the last Southwest Conference Championship in 1995 and the first Big 12 one in 1996. In his senior year he was team captain, MVP, a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award and a finalist for the Outland Trophy.

Professional career

The Denver Broncos selected Neil in the third round (67th pick overall) of the 1997 NFL draft. He played for the Broncos from to . After seeing limited playing time as a rookie in 1997, he became a reliable starter on the Broncos' offensive line, starting in 104 of 108 games over the next seven seasons. He was the starter for the Broncos' NFL championship team in

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and was on the team when they won Super Bowl XXXII, though he was inactive throughout most of the season, including the playoffs. He was a free agent after the 2000 season, but was signed again by the Broncos to a multi-year deal. In the 2001 season, he was fined $15,000 for an illegal block that broke the leg of New England's Bryan Cox. No penalty was called on the play, but NFL director of football operations Gene Washington said Neil clipped the New England linebacker "from behind and below the knee." Cox vowed revenge for the hit, but did not follow through. Neil was rarely injured, but missed the last two 2003 regular season games with a thumb injury and the end of the 2004 season, including Denver's playoff game, with knee and stomach injuries. Following the 2004 season, Neil was released by the Broncos.

Life after football

In 2010, Neil was the Republican nominee for the 48th District of the

. His opponents were Democratic incumbent Donna Howard and

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

Ben Easton. The election returns showed Howard winning by 16 votes. Neil challenged the results in the Texas House. A select investigating committee found that although Howard had actually won by only four votes, Neil had not met the burden of proof required to overturn the election. Neil dropped the challenge on March 18, 2011, nearly halfway into the legislative session. Even with the 12 vote victory that the Secretary of State considers official, it is the closest Texas House race on record. Prior to pursuing political aspirations, Neil co-hosted ''The Morning Rush'' with Erin Hogan on the

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area

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affiliate 104.9 The Horn. Neil's son David played varsity football at Westlake High School in West Lake Hills, Texas, from 2015 into the 2018–2019 season. Neil was inducted to the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor in 2008 and nominated to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

References

External links

Club bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neil, Dan 1973 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive guards Denver Broncos players Players of American football from Houston Texas Longhorns football players