Alfredo Roberts (born March 17, 1965) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), who serves as the tight ends coach for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. He played for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

Early years

Roberts attended

South Plantation High School South Plantation High School is a four-year public high school located in the city of Plantation, Florida in the United States. SPHS is part of the Broward County Public Schools school district, which is the sixth-largest district in the nation w ...

. As a senior

, he received All-city and second-team All-state honors. He helped his team win 2 consecutive city championships. In

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, he was a second-team All-state

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

as a senior. He led his team in hitting in two of his three seasons.

College career

Roberts accepted a football scholarship from the

. In 1983, he was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

, when head coach Howard Schnellenberger led the team to a National Championship. As a freshman, he was a backup

behind Willie Smith. The next year, he was a third-string

, after being passed on the depth chart by

Charles Henry Charles, Charlie, or Chuck Henry may refer to: Sportsmen *Charlie Henry (baseball) (1900–1972), American Negro leagues baseball player *Charles Henry (basketball), Gonzaga basketball coach for the 1943–44 season *Charlie Henry (footballer, bor ...

. As a junior, he was used as a backup blocking

behind Henry, increasing his receiving production to 10 receptions for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. As a senior in 1987, he shared the starting position with Henry, making 13 receptions for 137 yards and one touchdown, as part of a 12-0 undefeated team, that won the National Championship under head coach Jimmy Johnson. He finished his career with 29 receptions for 296 yards and 4 touchdowns, while playing on 3 bowl teams (two Fiesta Bowls, one

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

and one Orange Bowl).

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Roberts was selected by the

in the eighth-round (197th overall) of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Marq ...

. As a rookie, he started the first 7 games, before being limited with a shoulder injury that required arthroscopic surgery in the offseason. He was replaced in the starting lineupe with

Jonathan Hayes Jonathan Michael Hayes (born August 11, 1962) is an American football coach and former tight end who is currently offensive coordinator of the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. He previously served as the head coach of St. Louis Battlehawks as wel ...

. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, he was a backup behind Hayes, making 8 receptions for 55 yards and one touchdown. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, he started 13 games, posting 11 receptions for 119 yards

Dallas Cowboys

On March 18,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, he was signed in Plan B free agency by the

, reuniting with his former

head coach Jimmy Johnson. He was used as a blocking

behind Jay Novacek, helping Emmit Smith lead the league with 365 carries for 1,563 rushing yards. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, he contributed to Smith leading the league with 1,713 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns. He missed the playoffs because of a right knee injury he suffered in the season finale against the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and was not a part of

Super Bowl XXVII Super Bowl XXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

. He was replaced with Derek Tennell. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, he was placed on the injured reserve list after fracturing his foot during a training camp passing drill against the Los Angeles Raiders. He was eventually replaced with

Scott Galbraith Alan Scott Galbraith (born January 7, 1967) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Green Bay Packers. He was part of the Super Bowl XXVIII cham ...

. On March 31,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, he was released after not being able to recover from his previous foot injury.

References

External links

Los Angeles Chargers profiles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Alfredo 1965 births Living people People from Plantation, Florida Sportspeople from Broward County, Florida African-American players of American football Players of American football from Florida American football tight ends American football wide receivers South Plantation High School alumni Miami Hurricanes football players Kansas City Chiefs players Dallas Cowboys players African-American coaches of American football Coaches of American football from Florida Florida Atlantic Owls football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches High school football coaches in Indiana Los Angeles Chargers coaches Pittsburgh Steelers coaches 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople