Rodney Peete Rodney Peete ( born March 16 , 1966 ) is a former American football quarterback from the University of Southern California who played in the National Football League for 16 years . He retired in 2004 and is now in broadcasting . Early life . Peete was born in Mesa , Arizona . He attended Sahuaro High School in Tucson , Arizona , as a freshman , sophomore , and junior , and went to Shawnee Mission South High School in Overland Park , Kansas for his senior year . He was a three - year letterman in football , basketball , and baseball . In football , he was named the Arizona High School Player of the Year as a junior . Peete was drafted in the 30th round ( 722nd overall ) by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft . He did not sign and elected to attend college at the University of Southern California . College career . Peete was the first player ever from USC to win the Johnny Unitas Award as the nation ' s best senior quarterback . ( He has since been joined by Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart ) . In that senior year , he also finished second to Barry Sanders in the voting for the Heisman Trophy . His USC teams would win both head - to - head matchups in the UCLA - USC rivalry against Troy Aikman ' s UCLA teams . The 1988 UCLA - USC game was notable in that Peete was stricken with measles the week before the game and had been to the hospital . He led USC to the 1988 and 1989 Rose Bowl games . Peete was also a star third baseman on USC ' s baseball team . He was named to the all - Pac - 10 team . He was drafted three different times while at USC . In the 1988 MLB Draft by the Oakland Athletics in the 14th round ( 359th overall ) , the 1989 MLB Draft by the Atletics again in the 13th round ( 348th overall ) and the 1990 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers in the 28th round ( 742nd overall ) . Professional career . Peete did not achieve stardom in his professional career in the NFL , but played well enough to sustain his place in the league for 16 seasons , primarily as a backup . Selected by the Detroit Lions as the 141st pick in the 6th round of the 1989 NFL Draft , Peete was scheduled to start the season opener but sprained his knee in an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Rams , missing the first few games of the season . He would have been the first rookie quarterback to start for the Lions since 1968 , when Greg Landry started . His career was marked by injury . In his first five NFL seasons with the Lions , he would split time with Bob Gagliano , Erik Kramer , and former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware . After spending time with the Dallas Cowboys , Washington Redskins , Philadelphia Eagles , and Oakland Raiders , Peete ' s career appeared to be over until he became the starter for the Carolina Panthers in 2002 , where he led the Panthers to an 7 - 9 record , an improvement over 1 - 15 the year before . After a weak showing in the first half of 2003 season opening game against the Jacksonville Jaguars , head coach John Fox replaced him in the third quarter with Jake Delhomme , who then led the Panthers to a comeback victory . Delhomme subsequently replaced Peete as the Panthers ' starting quarterback , leading the team to an 11 - 5 record that ultimately led to Super Bowl XXXVIII against the New England Patriots . The Panthers released Peete to free agency in February 2005 for salary cap reasons , but he chose to retire instead of re - signing with a team for another season . Peete finished his career with the most NFL career passing yards among QBs from USC , a record that was eclipsed by Carson Palmer of the Arizona Cardinals . Entertainment career . After his retirement from the NFL , Peete became one of the hosts the Fox Sports Net sports talk show " The Best Damn Sports Show Period " alongside John Salley , Chris Rose and Rob Dibble . Personal . Peete has been married to actress Holly Robinson Peete since 1995 . The couple have four children : daughter Ryan and son Rodney Jr . , twins born October 19 , 1997 , son Robinson , born August 11 , 2002 , and son Roman , born February 25 , 2005 . One of their twins , Rodney Jr . , was diagnosed with autism at age three . He tells of his story of Rodney , Jr . , in the June 2010 issues of " Men ' s Health " . In November 2013 , Peete was named as a 2014 recipient of the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award , given annually to six former college athletes 25 years after the end of their college athletics careers . Peete is a son - in - law of Matt Robinson .