After sitting out his first four seasons, Reid Sinnett finally had his opportunity to start. Once he did, he took the Pioneer Football League Conference by storm. During his senior season in college, Sinnett led the San Diego Toreros to a 9-3 record and a conference championship. While amassing 3,538 passing yard and 32 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions. His efficiency rating was second in the nation and he added six rushing touchdowns.
Recently I was able to catch up with the undrafted free agent for an interview. Sinnett comes across as a consummate professional and was more than candid with his answers.
Sinnett on starting only one season in college, “I was frustrated because I thought that I was better….I always try and prepare like I was the starter in the case that he got hurt or wasn’t playing well. You never root for that but I was ready. When I did get the chance to start I definitely took advantage of the opportunity.”
The University of San Diego star signed shortly after the draft. He landed among the highest totals of guaranteed money at $152,000 for any undrafted player. When asked about the undrafted free agency process, Sinnett said, “leading up to the week I thought I had a chance to go 6th or 7th round if things played out well” and “my agent called and me told me Tampa wasn’t going to draft a quarterback and to hang tight…… he said do you want to take any other offers, and I said no lets go Tampa….and called me 5 mins later with the contract and I was ecstatic.”
Opportunity Knocks
Growing up in Iowa, Sinnett was a big Peyton Manning fan, even lobbying his little league coaches to let him make dummy “Omaha” line calls. Sinnett says the opportunity to learn behind Tom Brady is, “unbelievable. Just to sit in that room and listen to him… talk about football…is something I would pay to do and they’re going to pay me to be in those meetings. So I couldn’t be happier with the situation.”
As to what he’s doing to stay in shape he said, “Since I’ve been home a private facility where I’ve been able to lift and get everything that I need to done, may have jumped a couple fences to do some conditioning.” He also said he has a few buddies he’s been able to throw to so he “hasn’t really skipped a beat.”
At 6’4” and 225 lbs, he has the size that Bruce Arians typically looks for in quarterbacks. He has the arm, pocket presence and work ethic needed to play at this level. The test will be getting on the field and showing he can put it all together after digesting some of the playbook. Some people may see the one year starting as a hindrance, but an example that may not matter is Matt Cassell who never started a down in College and has built a career as a strong back up and serviceable spot starter. If he has a great camp and shows that last year wasn’t a fluke, he could push Ryan Griffin for the number three backup job and prove he’s more than just a camp arm.
Watch the entire interview below!
