Daunte Culpepper

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Profile

Height: 6-4
Weight: 247
Birthdate: 28 Jan 1977
Birthplace: Ocala, Fla.
Mother: Emma Culpepper
Position: Quarterback
High School: Vanguard HS, Ocala, FL
College: University of Central Florida (Major in Criminal Justice)
Pro: Drafted in 1999 first round (11th pick) by Minesota Vikings.
Daunte Culpepper Official Web Site

Commentary by Pro Football Weekly

His mother was a troubled teen, and Culpepper was adopted when he was an infant by then-62-year-old widow Emma Culpepper, who had taken in 15 children over the years. Had a 1.5 grade-point average going into his senior year in high school (needed 2.0 to avoid being a Prop 48) but raised his GPA so much as a senior that he was able to qualify. Although a premier high-school athlete, Culpepper was not heavily recruited by anyone but Central Florida assistant coach Paul Lounsbury until he got his GPA up, so he remained loyal to the one school and man who had literally taken out his calculator and come up with a game plan that showed Culpepper how he could make himself eligible. Also was a top high-school basketball and baseball player who was drafted by the New York Yankees. Four-year starter at Central Florida. Completed 168 of 294 passes for 2,071 yards, 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and ran 85 times for a net of 17 yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman in '95. Completed 187-314-2,565-19-15 and ran 94-102-2 in '96. Completed 238-381-3,086-25-10 and ran 136-438-5 in '97. Completed 296-402-3,690-28-7 and ran 141-463-12 as a senior. Completed an NCAA-record 73.6 percent of his passes as a senior.

Positives: Tremendous athlete with rare size. Can see from the pocket and has been very durable. Powerful runner who can shake off rushers and tacklers. Can improvise and scramble. Has a very strong arm. Has improved accuracy and touch over the course of his career. Can throw all types of passes and will allow the team that drafts him to draw its pass routes on longer paper. Literally put the Central Florida program on the football map and helped it make the jump to Division I-A. Completed 24-35-318-1-1 vs. Nebraska as a junior. Was coached by former NFL QB Mike Kruczek in college, ran a pro-type offense and was taught how to read progressions.

Negatives: Worst game of his senior year, and perhaps even his career, came against Auburn, which threw more complex coverages and more tight man-on-man coverage against him than he had seen before, leading to four interceptions. Has a tendency to put too much touch and air under some of his throws and to underestimate how quickly major-school defensive backs can break on his ball if they are playing tight man coverage as Auburn did. Very inconsistent release point and seems to get a lot of passes batted at the line for somebody his size. Tends to get too heavy. At times, leaves you with the feeling that all the parts are there, yet something is missing. I would like to see a little more emotion from him on the field. Seems to be almost too low-key for a leadership position.

Summary: Looks like a bigger Steve McNair with more touch and accuracy from the pocket and not quite as much mobility or running ability.

Vikings Sign Culpepper. Deal Seals QB's Role As Team's Future Leader

Star Tribune (Mpls.-St. Paul)
Saturday, July 31, 1999
Section: Sports, Edition: Metro, Page: 01c

There was Daunte Culpepper, standing in the lobby of the Vikings facility at Winter Park in Eden Prairie. The acknowledged future of the franchise, already thinking ahead.

"I think it's important," he said. "Just in the eyes of your teammates and your coaches, that you're not a guy that feels like you're better than the team. On the other hand, you want to get paid what you're worth."

On Friday Culpepper, the record-setting quarterback from the University of Central Florida whom the Vikings drafted in the first round (No. 11 overall) in April, signed his first NFL contract. Two days before the team is due to report to training camp in Mankato, Minn. Culpepper wanted his money, but he didn't want to be late. Quarterbacks are leaders, and he was concerned with precedent.

"You have to be," he said. "You have to gain the respect from your teammates. You have to earn it. I don't think sitting out, with all the guys out there sweating and working hard, is the way to do it."

Now, he'll be sweating too, but he'll be well-paid.

Negotiations, which began shortly after the draft, were remarkable for their lack of contentiousness. And they took care of both sides. Though neither side disclosed terms of the deal, the five-year contract is believed to have a base value of just over $7 million, including a $5 million signing bonus.

And that's just for starters. Or, rather, until Culpepper becomes one. The contract includes escalator clauses in the final two years of the deal _ clauses based on playing time and statistics _ that could increase his earnings by more than $6 million extra in each of those two seasons. Culpepper could nearly triple the amount of the base deal if he becomes the player both sides think he can be.

"It's the amount you play, and the quality you play," Culpepper's agent, Mason Ashe, said of the incentive clauses. "There are built-in incentives for being an elite player."

It's a reward system that suits Culpepper.

"I do feel that I'm going to earn my pay," he said. "That's what I want to do. That's what I've wanted to do my whole life."

It is a contract that, in total: acknowledges Culpepper's position in the draft (via the signing bonus); plans for Culpepper to serve an apprenticeship before starting in the third or fourth year, and then pays him when he does. All the while helping the Vikings, who have little salary-cap room and two more high picks to sign. Pro-rating the signing bonus and adding Culpepper's first-year base salary (about $275,000) means Culpepper's salary-cap figure for the year is under $1.3 million.

The two sides agreed to basic terms by Thursday night and then spent most of Friday dealing with the contract's specific language.

"I give a lot of respect and a lot of credit to [Vikings general manager] Tim Connolly and [chief negotiator] Rob Brzezinski," Ashe said. "They were willing to sit down and put the time in to hear what we were concerned about. A lot of teams don't do that."

Said Connolly: "Daunte is a young man who wanted to be in training camp on the first day. He understood that the sooner he got on the practice field, the sooner he'd be able to contribute. I'm glad Daunte is a Viking, and I look forward to his fellow draftees joining him in Mankato on Sunday."

Culpepper, who completed 889 of 1,391 passes for 11,412 yards and 84 touchdowns as a four-year starter at Central Florida, becomes the third of the five quarterbacks drafted in the first round to agree to terms.

The others are Cleveland's Tim Couch, the top pick in the draft, and Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb, the No. 2 overall selection who was expected to sign late Friday night.

Now that he's signed, Culpepper can hardly wait to begin his first NFL training camp, where he will start well down on the depth chart, behind Randall Cunningham and Jeff George.

"My thought process was long [Thursday] night," he said. "Thinking I could be signing [Friday] my first NFL contract. I've been working hard since the first day I started playing in seventh grade. It all pays off, all the hard work. I just feel great and I'm very happy."

The kind of words you would expect from a man already thinking like the leader the Vikings hope he will be. At this point there was one more phone call to make. Back home to Ocala, Fla., to his mother, Emma, who adopted and raised him.

"I've worked so hard for this," he said. "And I owe more than what I'm getting now to her."

Culpepper Ancestry: Daunte was raised by a foster mother, Emma Culpepper, and assumed her last name. Emmas was married to J. W. Culpepper who died in a 1958 automobile accident.