Teams played for:
- Dallas Cowboys; 1970
- New England Patriots; 1971, 1973
- Houston Oilers, 1974-1978
You might call Steve Kiner the Terrell Owens of his time. A two-time All-American from Florida, Kiner played for two SEC Championship teams with Tennessee football under Doug Dickey in the late 1960s, and one of those teams, the 1967 team, earned a retroactive national title.
However, Kiner is infamous for his trash talk that led to Archie Manning and the Ole Miss Rebels shutting him up in 1969. Well, he was still taken in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, in no small part due to his nine interceptions in three years as a linebacker. The 6’1″ 220-pound Tampa, Fla. native had a rocky start to the pros, though.
Kiner clashed with the Dallas Cowboys and Tom Landry and forced a trade to the New England Patriots after his rookie season. He started every game in New England in 1971 but was traded to the Miami Dolphins, who waived him, in 1972. After that, he signed with the Washington Redskins taxi squad but never played a game and was waived in 1973, being claimed again by the Patriots.
Following one more full season with New England, he was traded to the Houston Oilers. There, he got to play in Bum Phillips’ 3-4 defense, and that’s where he finally found stability, starting five full seasons at inside linebacker before being waived in 1979.
Thanks largely to those five seasons, Kiner appeared in 114 games and started in 99 of them in his career. He had 10 interceptions, eight fumble recoveries and one safety. All he needed was to be in the right system for his career to take off.