He was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the fourth round of the 1996 NFL Draft and later played for the Philadelphia Eagles and San Diego Chargers. Runyan was the last active NFL player to have played for the Oilers. He played college football at Michigan where he was a 1995 All-Big Ten Conference selection. In high school, he had been an All-State (Michigan) selection in basketball and two-time state champion shot putter. He retired at the end of the 2009 NFL season and launched his campaign for Congress against incumbent freshman Democrat John Adler, winning the general election on November 2, 2010.