He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the 18th overall pick of the 1979 NFL draft.

After five years in Seattle, he played the final three seasons of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, who won Super Bowl XIX in January 1985.

His son Matt was a utility player in Major League Baseball and is the third base coach of the Atlanta Braves.

His cousins are actor Navy, also a former football player, and Mike, a defensive coach at Kansas State University.

Mike is the father of Lanea, who won Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2019 at UCLA for her athletic performance on the women's crew team.