Rob Petitti

Rob Petitti

No. 79, 71
Position:	Offensive tackle
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1982-05-21) May 21, 1982
Place of birth:	Clark, New Jersey
Height:
Weight:
Career information
High school:	Rumson-Fair Haven (NJ)
College:	Pittsburgh
NFL draft:	2005 / Round: 6 / Pick: 209
Career history
Dallas Cowboys (2005) New Orleans Saints (2006–2007) St. Louis Rams (2007–2008) Florida Tuskers (2009) Carolina Panthers (2009–2010)
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Second-team All-Big East (2002) First-team All-ECAC (2003) 2× All-Big East (2003, 2004) Third-team All-American (2004)
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 27 Games started: 17 Fumble recoveries: 1 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Rob Christopher Petitti (born May 21, 1982) is a former American football offensive tackle who played in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, St. Louis Rams and Carolina Panthers. He played college football at Pittsburgh.

Early years

Petitti played high school football at Rumson-Fair Haven High School, where he was twice named to the All-New Jersey Group I team. He was also a two-time All-Division, All-Shore and All-County selection. He was a three-year starter as an offensive and defensive lineman. He recorded 90 tackles during his final two prep seasons.

College career

Petitti accepted a scholarship from the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a four-year starter at left tackle. In 2003, he earned First-team All-Big East Conference and All-Eastern College Athletic Conference honors. He was named the coaching staff's Co-Lineman of the Game for the Ball State contest and Co-Blocker of the Game against Syracuse. He started all year at left offensive tackle. For the season he recorded 87 knockdowns with eight touchdown-resulting blocks. He also, allowed 7.5 of the team's 43 quarterback sacks.

In 2004, Petitti earned Second-team All-American selection by The Sporting News and College Football News, Third-team honors from The NFL Draft Report and Associated Press. He was a unanimous first-team All-Big East selection by the coaches. Petittie was also a three-time All-Big East pick, becoming the first Pitt offensive lineman to achieve this recognition since Ruben Brown was a three-time selection from 1992 - 1994.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Petitti was selected in the sixth round (209 overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, after he dropped because of an injury-plagued senior season.

He won the starting right tackle job as a rookie over Jacob Rogers and Torrin Tucker. He made his first NFL start in the season opening win at the San Diego Chargers. By doing so, he became only the second rookie after Dave Widell in 1988, to start an opener at offensive tackle in franchise history. That year, him and Larry Allen were the only two offensive players for the Cowboys to play every offensive snap, although he struggled in the last month of the season.

Because of his significant playing time as a rookie, Pettiti earned $271,287 in performance pay, doubling his signing bonus and minimum base salary. The next year, the signing of Jason Fabini, combined with the play of Marc Colombo and rookie Pat McQuistan, made him expendable and led to his release on September 2, 2006.

New Orleans Saints

On September 4, 2006, Petitti — along with Cowboys teammate Terrance Copper — was claimed off waivers by the New Orleans Saints, reuniting him with new head coach and former Cowboys offensive coordinator Sean Payton. In 2006, he played in one game for the Saints, as a backup to Jon Stinchcomb. He was waived on August 31, 2007.

St. Louis Rams

On October 24, 2007, he was signed by the St. Louis Rams to a two-year, $1.1 million contract, to fill the roster spot vacated the release of Claude Terrell, after he was released for allegedly assaulted his wife. In 2007, Petitti played in five games for the Rams, with one start and also recovered one fumble.

On July 23, 2008, he was waived/injured by the Rams after tearing his Achilles tendon in the offseason. He was placed on season-ending injured reserve two days later.

Florida Tuskers

Petitti was selected by the Florida Tuskers in the UFL Premiere Season Draft. He signed with the team on August 25, 2009.

Carolina Panthers

He was signed by the Carolina Panthers on December 15, 2009 to replace an injured Jeff Otah. He was re-signed on March 15, 2010, released on September 4 and once more re-signed on December 1.

External links

• Carolina Panthers bio