Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Matt Leinart. Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

Heisman trophy winner discusses 'embarrassing' NFL ending with Bills

Originally posted on Buffalo Bills on SI | By Khari Demos | Last updated Jun 20, 2025 7:29 PM ET

It’s never easy calling it quits in the professional sports world. But especially for someone with legendary status.

Matt Leinart is one of the greatest college football players of all time, as he won the 2004 Heisman trophy and led Pete Carroll’s vaunted early-2000s USC Trojans to two national title wins and another appearance in the game in a three-year span.

His NFL career does not have the same mythical status. The last of his four stops came in 2013 when he was competing with Thad Lewis and Jeff Tuel to make the Buffalo Bills’ 53-man roster throughout training camp.

Leinart opened up on what was a disastrous showing for himself in preseason action against the Lions on his Throwbacks podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow 2000s icon Jerry Ferrara.

Matt Leinart opens up about his final chapter in the @NFL, and why @BuffaloBills fans will always hold a special place in his heart @ThrowbacksShow x #BillsMafia
: https://t.co/M3HWABB2ty pic.twitter.com/hHoRvV41Zs
— 13WHAM (@13WHAM) June 9, 2025

”I stood on that sideline like someone passed away in my family dude,” said Leinart of his showing in this 35-13 preseason loss. “I kept my helmet on some no one could see my face. I was embarrassed. I was so embarrassed that it would be my last time ever on a football field and I just knew it.”

Leinart was a little off on the stats — 3 for 10 passing with two interceptions — but his thoughts were valid.

Ferrara was quick to note, though, how Bills Mafia still embraces Leinart. The two-time Pac-10 offensive player of the year remembered how excited the fanbase was for him to revive his career in Western New York.

And while it didn't work out that way, Leinart said that the Mafia still shows him love regardless.

”I saw first hand like Buffalo, like Bills Mafia, how awesome their fans were,” said Leinart, who only spent five days with the Bills during that 2013 training camp. “They treated me great for the first couple days. That's why I was like ‘I love Buffalo,’”

Like his fellow Heisman trophy-winning running mate Reggie Bush, things did not work out for Leinart on the field in Buffalo. But that has not stopped Bills Mafia from recognizing him as the legend that the 2017 College Football Hall of Famer is.