"Kitna found a way. I believe people are going to have to start looking out for him and taking notice."
-- Pete Kendall, Seahawks guard
I loved Jon Kitna. I believed in Jon Kitna. My hopes and dreams were in the MVP of the World League Champion Barcelona Dragons. Puff, they called him. The Magic Dragon.
Jon Kitna is as likable as a player can be!! I've had the opportunity
to talk briefly with him (very briefly!) and I found him to be very
gracious and kind! Great towards fans! Full of enthusiasm! I like him!!!
This page is a celebration of his career from the World League
Championship to his career as starting Quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks! Of course that was then. Now we know that he's been traded to the Cincinnati Bengals. Best of luck to you, Jon.
Shown below is a brief commentary on Kitna's history. If you'd like my thoughts on Kitna and his relationship with Mike Holmgren, click here! Comments? PLEASE...send e-mail! I'd love to hear from you!
The World League Days...
3/27/97
Tacoma's Jon Kitna...is establishing himself as a starter in the World League.
Kitna beat out sore-armed Stoney Case for the starting job for the
Barcelona Dragons. He completed eight of 14 passes for 67 yards and a touchdown Tuesday
in the final World League pre-season scrimmage at the Atlanta Falcons
complex. Throughout the workouts over the past three weeks, Kitna has
earned rave reviews. "He's getting experience and he's shown good
composure and a strong and accurate arm," said Mueller, who watched
the scrimmage Tuesday along with Erickson. "His decision-making and
leadership have been impressive."
4/21/97
NFL Notes - Jon Kitna, the former Lincoln High quarterback who is on
loan from the Seattle Seahawks, threw two touchdown passes Sunday as
the Barcelona Dragons defeated the defending World League champion
Scottish Claymores, 20-7, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Kitna hit 16 of 27
passes for 254 yards.
4/23/98
LONDON - If Jon Kitna ends up as the Seattle Seahawks starting
quarterback some day, coach Dennis Erickson's nephew should get a
scouting bonus. Passed over a year ago in the NFL draft, Kitna landed
a tryout with the Seahawks only because his teammate at Central
Washington University - Jamie Christian - was Erickson's nephew.
"He (Erickson) came to a couple of our games and invited Jamie and me
to come to the Seahawks complex," Kitna said. "It was pretty informal,
just the two of us and coach Erickson and his youngest son."
Apparently, he made a good impression. So good that he spent last
season as the Seahawks practice squad quarterback, then signed a
two-year contract and was sent to the Barcelona Dragons of the World
League to prove himself.
After the first two games of the World League season, the Dragons are
undefeated and Kitna has emerged as the league's top QB. He has
completed 34 of 53 passes for 497 yards, with five touchdowns and no
interceptions.
With John Friesz as Seattle's starter at quarterback and 40-year-old
Warren Moon in reserve, the Seahawks are solid - but not rock solid -
at the position.
"I'm not kidding myself, the World League isn't the NFL," Kitna said
in a telephone interview from Barcelona. "But I'll take how things are
going so far - I just don't want to peak too early.
"I'm thinking No. 3 with the Seahawks, but even a No. 3 is just two
plays from being a starter."
5/14/97
It's World League football.
His faith, he explained, leads him to try to "attack every situation
with joy and happiness."
He is clearly doing so, although it appears that he's also attacking
this situation with unbridled athletic verve.
Twice in the first five weeks, Kitna, who is on loan from the Seattle
Seahawks, was named the World League's player of the week.
He leads the league in every passing category and is even third in the
league in rushing. And he's on pace to become the league's all-time
total offense record holder.
"For me, personally, this experience is invaluable," Kitna said from
the team's hotel in a small suburban resort town on the Mediterranean
Sea. "For a guy like me, coming out of a small school (Central
Washington), this is a real opportunity. When I came out, nobody knew
anything about me. Even the Seahawks really don't know what I can do.
"This gives them the chance to see what I can do in a game situation -
even if it's not the NFL."
6/23/97
BARCELONA, Spain - "Anytime you play you want to win the championship. It's the pinnacle," said the 24-year-old Kitna, a product of Tacoma's Lincoln High. "It's been a memorable 3 1/2 months over here."
And then...
8/12/97
CHENEY - A year ago, Jon Kitna worried too much.
Thanks to a season in the World League, Kitna doesn't have a worry in
the world. On Monday, Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson named Kitna the
team's third quarterback by releasing veteran Gino Torretta. Erickson
also labeled Kitna a quarterback of the future.
"Last year in camp, I wasn't playing; I was just worried all the time
about certain things," Kitna said. "This year, it's just like my mind's
focused on just playing the football game and having a lot of fun."
Kitna had fun leading Barcelona to the World League championship. In
the 10-game season, Kitna threw for 2,849 yards and 24 touchdown
passes. He's also had fun in three Seahawks exhibition games, in which
he completed 20 of 24 passes for an incredible 115.8 quarterback
rating.
8/17/97
Kitna connected on all eight of his attempts for 116 yards, and has
put together a remarkable preseason in which he has completed 28 of 32
attempts. He is the future for the Seahawks.
New Seahawk QB big fan of Krieg
Jon Kitna was born in Tacoma, Wash., went to the NAIA school Central
Washington and lives in Bothell, Wash. He grew up a fan of the Seahawks
and was a big fan of Dave Krieg, who was a Seattle quarterback from
1980 to 1991 and who now serves as backup to Steve McNair.
Kitna, who replaces Warren Moon as the starter for the Seahawks at
quarterback tomorrow, sees a lot of similarities between himself and
Krieg, who he hopes to meet for the fist time on Sunday.
"Both of us were not really given a chance and continue to hang around,
" he said.
"In some aspects we are the same. We're both scrappy, and I don't
think he cared what people thought about him and how he looked on the
field as long as he got the job done. That was his mentality when I
watched him growing up, and that's the same mentality I have."
From unnamed news source, August 1999:
Kitna inexplicably lost the handle on the ball when he was rolling away from pressure in the third quarter, but recovered it.
"It was kind of a Dave Krieg episode," Kitna said of the former Seahawks quarterback who holds the record for the most fumbles in the NFL.
After being released by the Hawks...
HOBSON: You’re not a big fan of Holmgren, are you?
KITNA: I didn’t appreciate the way he dealt with me, but I learned a lot. I guess it’s kind of like a father- son type of relationship. When you’re at home, you don’t really appreciate the things he’s doing. But when you leave, you learn that you learned a lot from him. I still don’t like the way he treated me or a lot of the guys. That’s his style.
HOBSON: Kind of brusque?
KITNA: For me, he didn’t talk to me. Never. Not until the end of the season. It was interesting because he came out and made a statement after we were eliminated from the playoffs that we were going to open up the offense and not hold anything back. We went from 27th to 17th in the league (in offense) in the last four or five weeks. I don think there’s a coincidence there.
HOBSON: LeBeau likes to talk to his players. Has he talked more to you than Holmgren did in a couple of years?
KITNA: Yeah, but I understand a little of it. Holmgren was every position in that building. I still think there should have been more communication than there was.
HOBSON: LeBeau is pretty laid back.
KITNA: But his style works for me. He demands respect. He demands you to do things asked of you at that position, but at times he lets you have some freedom.
What the fans have to say...
I loved your little piece about Jon Kitna. I love him too. I didn't really know about him until him came to Cincinnati (where I'm from). I hated the Bengals, but I saw that he was a strong Christian, had passion and I started watching again. In 2003, I was taking a lot of flack for being such a big fan of his; they started off 1-4; but man they started winning, ended up 8-8 which was the biggest turn around in NFL history from a 2-14 2002 debacle. But once again Kitna got screwed. Even though he was the NFL comeback player of the year and a top 5 QB on the season he was benched because we paid Carson "the biggest flop in history" Palmer 50 million bucks. I know if Kitna started in 2004 we were going to the playoffs, that team was rolling with him at the helm. I forgot to mention another great thing about that season was the Bengals and Kitna beat Mike Holmgren and the Seahawks. Sweet revenge. I do think Holmgren should have given him more of a chance. He is much better than Hasselback ever was. He was incredibly good on some horrific teams; It was so awesome to see him outplay Tony Romo, Peyton and Eli Manning this year for Dallas. I hope when he goes back home to Seattle that they will pick him up for a 2 year contract and see what he can do; maybe mentor Charlie Whitehurst; He'd def. be better than that old man Hasselbeck. LOL.
Anyway thanks a lot for the piece and go Kitna!! Believe it or not I like Seattle alot back when they had Dave Krieg and Steve Largent those guys we're incredible. Take it easy and God Bless;
-- Ocosta Wildcat
The First year in the NFL he was in the position of WAITING.
Holmgren was "grooming" him, and Jon needed a TEAM to help-out.
(He never GOT that team).
Jon subsequentially DETERIORATED in TALENT , and I figured-out "WHY" !!!!
He had some "Quarterback Coach" who he spent too-much time with.
He'll be good at Cincy! (Heck, his only interceptions last week were
because of dropped passes by his receivers.)
-- Wes
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