Matthew Jesse Ware (born December 2, 1982) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

. He was drafted in the third round with the 89th pick in the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 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 24–25, 2004 at the Theater a ...

by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. He played college football at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. He also played for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division, an ...

, Virginia Destroyers and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Baseball career

Seattle Mariners

Ware was drafted by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

in the 21st round of the

2001 MLB Draft The 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 5 and 6. First round selections Supplemental First Round Selections Compensation Picks Background On June 1, 2001, Rolando Viera, a Cuban b ...

. He played for the Peoria Mariners during the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Football career

Philadelphia Eagles

Ware was drafted by the

in the

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, he recorded a game-winning touchdown against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

when he recovered the ball after a blocked Chargers field goal and carried it to the end zone. He was released on September 2, 2006.

Arizona Cardinals

On September 3, 2006, Ware was claimed off waivers by the

. On December 16, 2009, he was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

due to a knee injury. Ware was released by Arizona on September 2, 2011.

Toronto Argonauts

Ware spent two years away from football, working as a personal trainer and fire fighter, before signing with the

of the CFL.Matt Ware: Unfinished Business - Toronto Argonauts
/ref>

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bioToronto Argonauts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, Matt 1982 births Living people African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football American football cornerbacks Canadian football defensive backs UCLA Bruins football players Philadelphia Eagles players Arizona Cardinals players Arizona League Mariners players Toronto Argonauts players Virginia Destroyers players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people Ed Block Courage Award recipients