Erik Meyer (born December 28, 1982) 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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and current coach. He is the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

for St. Paul High School in

Santa Fe Springs, California Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 19,219 at the 2020 census, up from 16,22 ...

, a position he has held since 2025. He was signed by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2006. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

. He was also a member of the Cologne Centurions,

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divis ...

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

and

Washington Valor The Washington Valor were a professional arena football team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Capital One Arena. The Valor were owned by Ted Leonsis throug ...

Early life

Meyer attended La Mirada High School in

La Mirada, California La Mirada is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities, on the border with Orange County, California, Orange County. The population was 48,008 at the 2020 ...

, and was a student and a letterman in football and baseball. He was given the nickname of "Daddy" because he was always known to be a father figure to underclassmen, and his various positions in the community volunteering with children were highlighted at commencement when the school recognized him with the "George R. Shull Excellence in Care Scholarship," voted on by his graduating class and faculty at LMHS.

College career

Meyer was a record-setting quarterback for

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

. He won the 2005

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

, presented by

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...

to the top offensive player in NCAA Division I-AA football. In 42 games, he completed 721 of 1097 passes for 10,261 yards, with 84 TD passes against just 17 INTs. His 166.5 career passing efficiency rating set a record for FCS quarterbacks with at least 400 completions. His career interception percentage (1.5) also is a Division I-AA record. He also broke eight Eastern Washington career records, five single-season marks, and one single-game mark. Erik, an avid weight lifter, was the lone skill position player to be a member of the 1200 pound club as a member of the EWU football team. His diligence led him to be inducted into the inaugural Iron Man Club, a plaque small in stature coined by a small fan Joey Dank. It still is a prominent fixture in the Eagle weight facility in Cheney, WA. Notably, Meyer was recognized for excellence in the classroom during his four-year career at EWU. Erik was the recipient of the Joseph Helen Dankert Gold Scholar Award for maintaining a 3.8+ GPA during his time as an Eagle.

Professional career

Meyer was rated the eighth best quarterback in the

2006 NFL draft The 2006 NFL draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offe ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Cincinnati Bengals

Meyer went undrafted in the 2006 NFL Draft. He signed with the

as an undrafted free agent and attended training camp hoping to contend for a roster spot. Meyer was released from the Bengals on August 28.

Cologne Centurions

In 2007, Meyer was the starting quarterback for the Cologne Centurions of

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally founded ...

before the league folded. He completed 141 of 205 passes for 1,612 yards, 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He also rushed for 138 yards and 1 touchdown.

Seattle Seahawks

Meyer was signed by the

in July 2007. He competed against third-string Seahawk quarterback David Greene and free agent Derek Devine for the third-string job. Meyer was cut by the Seahawks on August 28, 2007.

Oakland Raiders

On March 24, 2008, Meyer was signed by the

. He was waived on June 25, 2008, to make room for Sam Keller.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On February 24, 2009, Meyer was signed by the

. He was released on June 9, 2009.

Spokane Shock

Meyer was signed by the

on December 23, 2009. Meyer appeared in two games connecting on 18 of 28 passes for 274 yards, 5 touchdowns, and one interception.

Utah Blaze

Meyer signed with the

on September 22, 2010. Meyer was the backup to Tommy Grady.

Spokane Shock

Meyer was traded back to the

with

Raymond McNeil Raymond McNeil (born October 14, 1984) is a former American football offensive lineman. He played college football at Fort Valley State University and attended Jurupa Valley High School in Jurupa Valley, California. He has also been a member of ...

for Khreem Smith and

Antonio Narcisse Antonio Narcisse (born August 4, 1982) is an American former professional football center. He played college football at Portland State. He was a member of the New Orleans VooDoo, Cleveland Gladiators, Spokane Shock, Utah Blaze, Iowa Barnstormer ...

on May 30, 2011. After spending 3 seasons as the backup to Kyle Rowley, Meyer was given a chance to start in 2013. Meyer responded by leading the league in touchdown passes, with 112. Meyer's 112 touchdowns and 4,667 passing yards, were both new Shock records. Meyer lead the Shock to a 14–4 record, clinching the #2 seed in the National Conference. Following the season, Meyer was named First-team

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

by the AFL. Meyer was recognized again by the AFL, earning Offensive Player of the Year and League MVP Awards. On December 16, 2013, Meyer was assigned to Spokane for the 2014 season.

San Jose SaberCats

On October 10, 2014, Meyer was assigned to the

. He helped the Sabercats to a 17–1 regular season record while earning Second-team All-Arena honors. The Sabercats won ArenaBowl XXVIII against the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The team plays its home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. They were members of the Are ...

on August 29, 2015.

Washington Valor

Meyer was assigned to the

in February 2017. On May 24, 2017, Meyer was placed on injured reserve. On July 3, 2017, it was announced that Meyer was retiring.

AFL statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

Coaching career

In 2013, Meyer began coaching quarterbacks at

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington, United States. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academi ...

. Meyer has been the quarterbacks coach at his alma mater, La Mirada High School since 2008. He has also spent time as the offensive coordinator at La Mirada. In 2017, Meyer became an offensive quality control coach for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

. In 2020, Meyer was hired as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

. He was promoted to co-

in 2024.

References

External links

Utah Blaze bioCalifornia Golden Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Erik 1982 births Living people American football quarterbacks Cal Poly Mustangs football coaches California Golden Bears football coaches Central Washington Wildcats football coaches Cincinnati Bengals players Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) players Eastern Washington Eagles football coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players La Mirada High School alumni Oakland Raiders players San Jose SaberCats players Seattle Seahawks players Spokane Shock players Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California Utah Blaze players Washington Valor players High school football coaches in California Walter Payton Award winners Sportspeople from La Mirada, California Players of Canadian football from California