Jeffrey Jason Garcia (born February 24, 1970 in Gilroy, California) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. Garcia's professional career began in the CFL before signing with the San Francisco 49ers and starting for them at quarterback for five seasons (1999-2003). After disappointing seasons in Cleveland and Detroit, Garcia resurrected his career in Philadelphia. Garcia is of Irish and Mexican descent. Garcia is one of four NFL starting quarterbacks who are Mexican-American; the other three being Tony Romo, J. P. Losman, and Marc Bulger.
Garcia is one of only seven quarterbacks in NFL history that have achieved two consecutive (back-to-back) 30-touchdown passing seasons (2000 & 2001) at least one time in their career. The others are Steve Bartkowski, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Dan Fouts, Dan Marino, and Y.A. Tittle.
Garcia attended Gilroy High School in Gilroy, California and was a letterman in football and basketball.
Garcia was a standout quarterback while attending San Jose State. He started his professional career in Calgary with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He won a place on Calgary's roster as their third string quarterback behind Doug Flutie and Steve Taylor when he threw two fourth quarter touchdowns in his exhibition game appearance in 1994. Soon he was named backup to Doug Flutie. In 1995, Flutie went down midway through the season with an elbow injury and Garcia took over as starter. In his second start filling in for Flutie, Garcia set a team record with 546 passing yards and 6 touchdown passes in the Labour Day game against Edmonton touching off an eventual quarterback controversy among some fans when Flutie later returned. Flutie ended up starting over Garcia in the Grey Cup that year which the Stampeders lost. After Flutie signed as a free-agent with the Toronto Argonauts in 1996, Garcia took over as the Stampeders' starting quarterback. During Garcia's three years as starter, the Stampeders finished with records of 13-5, 10-8, and 12-6 .
In 1997, Garcia won the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy, an award given to the Most Outstanding Player in the CFL Western Division. Garcia led the Stampeders to the Western Final in 1996 and to the Western Semi-Final in 1997. In 1998, he led the team to a Grey Cup victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and was named Grey Cup MVP. Garcia's memorable performance included an 80-yard, game-ending drive to set up the game winning field goal on the last play of the game . Garcia was also named as the 1998 CFL All-Star at quarterback.
Following the Grey Cup victory, Garcia was signed as a backup to Steve Young with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Over the summer, he had been fighting for a spot on the roster, but early in the 1999 season, Steve Young was sacked by Aeneas Williams and suffered his final professional concussion, knocking him out for the year. Garcia stepped in and finished the season.
The following season, with Young retired, Garcia kept the starting quarterback position and made his first Pro Bowl appearance. He set a new 49ers' team record with 4,278 passing yards in the 2000 season, although the team finished with a 6-10 record. In both of the next two seasons, the 49ers went to the playoffs.
Garcia had 31 and 32 passing touchdowns in the 2000 and 2001 seasons, more than any other quarterback over those two seasons. Garcia went to the Pro Bowl in three consecutive seasons (2000-2002).
On January 5, 2003, during the 2002-2003 playoffs, Garcia was a large part of the 49ers' comeback win over the New York Giants, the second largest comeback victory in NFL playoff history. In the game's third quarter, the Giants were up 38-14, with about 18 minutes left to play. Once the 49ers regained possession of the ball, they began a comeback that saw 25 unanswered points, with San Francisco taking a 39-38 lead. The Giants lost an opportunity to retake the lead after a controversial call, and the improbable victory became the signature game of Garcia's 49er career. He threw for 331 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception, and also ran for 60 yards and 1 touchdown.
Garcia's favorite target while with the 49ers was Terrell Owens. Although the two made the pro bowl together in 2000, they had a rocky on-off field relationship. At one time, Owens questioned Garcia's sexuality.
Following a disappointing 2003 season, in which Garcia performed at a sub-par level, the 3-time Pro Bowler was released by the 49ers due to a decline in performance and salary cap issues.
Shortly after his release, on January 14, 2004, Garcia was arrested for a drunk driving violation in San Jose, after attending a San Jose Sharks game, by the San Jose State University Police Department.
Garcia signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns on March 9, 2004. Garcia was released by the Browns after the 2004 season, in which he struggled to find any consistency.
He was signed by the Detroit Lions to a one-year contract on March 12, 2005, to play for his former San Francisco head coach, Steve Mariucci, but Garcia broke his fibula in the fourth preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on September 2, 2005. He started his first regular season game as quarterback for the Lions on October 23, 2005 against his former teammates, the Browns. Garcia led the Lions to a 13-10 victory completing 22 of his 34 pass attempts for 210 yards, with one touchdown and zero interceptions.
After the win, Mariucci named Garcia the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, over Joey Harrington - the longtime Detroit starter. Garcia struggled later in the season and Harrington returned as the starter. Following the season, the Lions did not offer Garcia a new contract.
Jeff Garcia during the Eagles' 2006 Training Camp.
On March 15, 2006, after consecutive frustrating seasons for the Browns and Lions, Garcia signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles to serve as the primary backup to Donovan McNabb in 2006. Because McNabb was already wearing #5 on his jersey, Garcia would end up having his jersey number changed to #7.
Following McNabb's season-ending knee injury in a game against the Tennessee Titans on November 19, 2006, Garcia entered the game. Coach Andy Reid named Garcia as the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season over fellow backup A.J. Feeley, despite Feeley's popularity in Philadelphia.
After a loss against the Colts on Sunday Night Football, many sportscasters (namely Deion Sanders) predicted the Eagles to be out of contention for the rest of the season. However, Garcia caught on fire and lead the Eagles to five consecutive victories and the NFC East division championship. The rejuvenated quarterback threw 10 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions, while posting a QB rating of 95.8 in eight total games played. He also made the front cover of Sports Illustrated (on the January 8, 2007 issue) following his five-game winning streak. On January 7, 2007, Garcia earned only his second ever playoff win, throwing for 153 yards and one touchdown in a 23-20 victory over the Giants. On January 13, 2007 Garcia and the Eagles lost to the New Orleans Saints by a score of 27-24, ending Garcia's magical run. He threw for 240 yards and a touchdown - a 75-yard touchdown pass to Donte Stallworth - the longest in Eagles' postseason history.
Though he stated that he would love to re-sign with Philadelphia, the Eagles decided not to offer Garcia a new contract after the season. The Eagles opted to instead sign the younger A.J. Feeley to a three-year deal.
After his run with the Eagles, Garcia signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on March 3, 2007, to compete for their starting position. As of the start of the 2007 regular season, Garcia is currently the Bucs' starting quarterback and has the third highest quarterback rating in the National Football League.He also brought the Bucs to the playoffs. The Buccaneers lost to the eventual Super Bowl winning Giants 14-24 in the NFC Wild Card Playoffs on January 6, 2008 with Garcia throwing for 207 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. On January 24, 2008 it was announced that Garcia would be replacing Brett Favre in the Pro Bowl, making it his first Pro Bowl since 2002. Garcia has suggested in 2008 that he may stage a holdout of the Buccaneers if they don't meet his contract extension demands. He is in the final year of the two year contract. He is expected to make $2.75 million this season, including a $750,000 roster bonus. However, he is threatening to retire this year if he does not get a new contract.
Garcia is the third of seven children born to Bob and Linda (nee Elder) Garcia. A pair of twin girls died before his birth. His younger brother Jason drowned on a family camping trip in 1977 when Garcia was seven, and fourteen months later his younger sister Kimberly died after falling out of a truck. His two surviving sisters, Jene and Melissa, were born after the deaths of Jason and Kimberly. Garcia has said that much of his drive stems from trying to make his parents happy after the deaths of his siblings. His maternal grandfather, "Red" Elder, was a football star at Kansas State in the 1940s; both played in the East-West Shrine Game while in college, the only grandfather/grandson duo to do so. Elder was a longtime coach at Gilroy (CA) High School. Garcia donated money to refurbish the athletic field at the school, and the field was renamed Garcia-Elder Field to honor both of them.
Garcia married Carmella DeCesare, the 2004 Playboy Playmate of the Year, on April 21, 2007 in San Martin, California. They have a daughter, Presley, born April 28, 2008.
