{"id":40493,"date":"2016-04-28T16:22:59","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T21:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=40493"},"modified":"2016-04-29T17:14:21","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T22:14:21","slug":"northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwestern’s Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL’s best fullback"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tolly Taylor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bob Christian and his parents were huddled in his Sargent Hall dorm room at Northwestern when he finally got the call. The Atlanta Falcons had picked the fullback in the 12th and final round of the 1991 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy day wasn\u2019t what I thought it would be,\u201d said Christian, who had been projected by draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. to go in the middle rounds. \u201cLate in the day, I started to lose hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years later, as the NFL prepares for this year\u2019s draft Thursday through Saturday in Chicago, Christian says he is proud of his career. The only Falcon drafted that year who lasted longer in the league was a second-round pick named Brett Favre, who took the Green Bay Packers to two Super Bowls, winning one.<\/p>\n

\"(Tolly
(Tolly Taylor\/ Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christian lasted 11 years in the NFL, helped the 1998 Falcons reach the Super Bowl and was named the league\u2019s best fullback that year by Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was totally honored (by SI\u2019s award),\u201d Christian said by phone recently, \u201cbecause so many people never gave me the benefit of the doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first time the Falcons had him, they cut him in training camp. The San Diego Chargers did the same in 1992, before Christian caught on that year with the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n

\n

A bounty on Christian?<\/h1>\n

One day while in the lunch line with the Chicago Bears, Bob Christian recalls, teammate Tim Ryan leaned over and said, \u201cWatch yourself out there today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan explained that, because of Christian\u2019s physical play in practice at fullback, defensive players had placed a bounty on his head. This was during a different time in the NFL and society, about 20 years before Bountygate.<\/p>\n

The bounty for Christian: $100 to take him out.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they didn\u2019t,\u201d Christian said. \u201cLuckily, I think it was just more of tactic to motivate the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tolly Taylor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Christian likes telling people he was drafted a second time \u2014 by the Carolina Panthers, in their 1995 expansion draft. He scored the first touchdown in franchise history, but missed the 1996 season with a torn pectoral muscle.<\/p>\n

His next and final stop was back in Atlanta for six seasons. He helped Jamal Anderson rush for an NFC-leading 1,846 yards in 1998, but a knee injury in the 14th game sidelined Christian for the rest of the season and the playoffs. The Falcons finished 14-2 in the regular season, but lost to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat team was the best team I ever played on,\u201d said Christian. \u201cWe won a lot of games, but we were also so close with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian retired after the 2002 season and joined his brother, Tommy, as a trainer at TCBOOST Sports Performance in Northbrook. He then moved to Owasso, Oklahoma, where he recently earned his certified flight instructor rating. He plans to be a corporate pilot.<\/p>\n

Christian says that after the Falcons first drafted him in 1991, on his flight to rookie mini-camp, he thought about what he wanted from his career in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to earn a starting role, play six years and retire,\u201d Christian said. Not bad for a 12th-round pick.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Christian trains players with his company TCBOOST Sports Performance (Alison Bullock\/ Medill) <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tolly Taylor Bob Christian and his parents were huddled in his Sargent Hall dorm room at Northwestern when he finally got the call. The Atlanta Falcons had picked the fullback in the 12th and final round of the 1991 NFL Draft. \u201cMy day wasn\u2019t what I thought it would be,\u201d said Christian, who had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":40610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2677,492,31,2582],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-nfl-draft","category-nfl-draft","category-sports","category-spring-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nNorthwestern's Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL's best fullback - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Northwestern's Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL's best fullback - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tolly Taylor Bob Christian and his parents were huddled in his Sargent Hall dorm room at Northwestern when he finally got the call. The Atlanta Falcons had picked the fullback in the 12th and final round of the 1991 NFL Draft. \u201cMy day wasn\u2019t what I thought it would be,\u201d said Christian, who had […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-28T21:22:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-29T22:14:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2176\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"talbottaylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"talbottaylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/\",\"name\":\"Northwestern's Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL's best fullback - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-28T21:22:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-29T22:14:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/96c13b2e43439236caa8a368977b6155\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg\",\"width\":2176,\"height\":1368},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Northwestern’s Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL’s best fullback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/96c13b2e43439236caa8a368977b6155\",\"name\":\"talbottaylor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22bf3649efa8614be8ecbbe80200d07d536140310f222d80e4a2fe30be7daad3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22bf3649efa8614be8ecbbe80200d07d536140310f222d80e4a2fe30be7daad3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"talbottaylor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/talbottaylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Northwestern's Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL's best fullback - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Northwestern's Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL's best fullback - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Tolly Taylor Bob Christian and his parents were huddled in his Sargent Hall dorm room at Northwestern when he finally got the call. The Atlanta Falcons had picked the fullback in the 12th and final round of the 1991 NFL Draft. \u201cMy day wasn\u2019t what I thought it would be,\u201d said Christian, who had […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-04-28T21:22:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-04-29T22:14:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2176,"height":1368,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"talbottaylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"talbottaylor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/","name":"Northwestern's Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL's best fullback - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-28T21:22:59+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-29T22:14:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/96c13b2e43439236caa8a368977b6155"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/04\/BobChristian.jpg","width":2176,"height":1368},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/northwesterns-bob-christian-from-12th-round-to-nfls-best-fullback\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Northwestern’s Bob Christian: From 12th round to NFL’s best fullback"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/96c13b2e43439236caa8a368977b6155","name":"talbottaylor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22bf3649efa8614be8ecbbe80200d07d536140310f222d80e4a2fe30be7daad3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22bf3649efa8614be8ecbbe80200d07d536140310f222d80e4a2fe30be7daad3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"talbottaylor"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/talbottaylor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}