Matthew J. Hernandez (born October 16, 1961) 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 was an

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

for two seasons with the

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 ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). 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 ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname ...

and was selected by the Seahawks in the eighth round of the

1983 NFL draft The 1983 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1983, at the New York Sh ...

Early life and college

Hernandez attended East Detroit High School in

Eastpointe, Michigan Eastpointe (formerly East Detroit) is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Eastpointe borders Detroit to the south, roughly northeast of Downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had ...

. He lettered for the

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

from 1980 to 1982. He earned second-team All-Big Ten honors his senior year in 1982.

Professional career

Hernandez was selected by the

with the 210th pick in the 1983 NFL Draft. He played in eight games, starting one, for the Seahawks during the 1983 season. He was released by the Seahawks on August 28, 1984. Hernandez signed with the

on September 12, 1984. He played in thirteen games for the Vikings in 1984. Hernandez left Vikings

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

in 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Matt Living people 1961 births Players of American football from Detroit American football offensive tackles Purdue Boilermakers football players Seattle Seahawks players Minnesota Vikings players