Jon Kitna

Jon Kelly Kitna (born September 21, 1972) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. After playing college football for Central Washington University, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 1996 and was allocated to the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe in 1997. He led the Dragons to a World Bowl championship, and became the starting quarterback for the Seahawks in 1998 after spending the 1997 and most of the 1998 seasons as the backup to Warren Moon. Following a four-year stint with Seattle, Kitna signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001. He played for the Bengals from 2001 to 2005 as their starting quarterback, and, later, the mentor to Carson Palmer. He was a member of the Detroit Lions from 2006 to 2008, and the Dallas Cowboys from 2009 to 2011.

Kitna was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, where he attended Concordia Lutheran School and Lincoln High School, lettering in football, basketball and baseball. He moved on to Central Washington University without an athletic scholarship and became a starter at quarterback as a freshman, beating out current California Offensive Coordinator Beau Baldwin before passing for 1,964 Yards. The next year, he posted 3,241 yards. As a junior, he registered 2,532 passing yards.