Sergio Kindle
Encyclopedia
Baltimore Ravens
Although deemed a first-round talent by most analysts, many teams were scared off by Kindle's often-injured knee and his off-the-field incidents. Kindle fell into the second round and was ultimately drafted by the Baltimore RavensBaltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
, 43rd overall. He said in a press conference shortly after the draft he was targeting the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2010. However, after the Ravens' minicamp, Kindle acknowledged: "When I said that, it was just an exciting moment for me, getting drafted. My head was in the clouds."
On July 25, Kindle fell down two flights of stairs at a home in Austin, Texas. He was sent to the hospital in stable condition but was described as suffering head trauma. It was later determined he fractured his skull in the fall. As a result, Kindle was unable to attend the Ravens' training camp at McDaniel College
McDaniel College
McDaniel College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Westminster, Maryland, located 30 miles northwest of Baltimore. The college also has a satellite campus located in Budapest, Hungary. Until July 2002, it was known as Western Maryland College...
.
On September 23, 2010, Kindle signed a one-year contract for $320,000, the rookie minimum, and was immediately placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list. Because Kindle did not sign until Week 3 of the 2010 season, Kindle received a prorated salary of $282,000. The contract included no signing bonus (by comparison, New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
tight end Rob Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski is an American football tight end for the New England Patriots of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Patriots in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft...
, the player drafted just before Kindle, received a signing bonus of $1.76 million).
18 months after been drafted, Kindle was named active for the first time in his career for the week 4 game against the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. He was primarily on special teams, but saw some time on defense towards the end of the game.
Personal
Kindle was born in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and moved to Texas shortly after he was born. His father played semi-pro football in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
On July 28, 2007, at 2:35 am, Kindle was pulled over for failing to stay in a single-marked lane near downtown Austin, Texas. After failing a field sobriety test, Kindle was arrested and charged with a DWI. Kindle was 19 years old at the time. Although he was sentenced to three days in jail, he served no jail time.
On December 26, 2010, Kindle was arrested for drunk driving at 4:09 am in Howard County, Maryland. Testing revealed that he had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.17 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit in Maryland of 0.08. He was released from custody after posting a bond of $10,000. Following his second arrest, Kindle spent five days at an alcohol abuse in-patient treatment facility. Judge Neil Edward Axel, Howard County’s drug and DUI court supervisor, waived both the mandatory $1,000 fine and the mandatory five-day jail sentence.
On September 16, 2011, Kindle was sued in Davidson County (TN) Circuit Court by U.S. Bank for $130,000, over non-payment of loans from the bank's music and entertainment division, which is based in Nashville. It is reported that the bank planned to have Kindle served with a subpoena during the Ravens' trip that weekend to Nashville, to play the Tennessee Titans.