Andre Wadsworth (born October 19, 1974) is a former
football defensive end
Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football.
This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...
. He played
College football for
Florida State University, and earned
All-American honors. He was selected in the first round of the
1998 NFL Draft
The 1998 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 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...
by the
Arizona Cardinals.
Early years
Wadsworth was born in
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He attended Class A
Florida Christian School in
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
, where he starred at
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. Lik ...
for the Florida Christian Patriots
high school football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...
team. Wadsworth was named first-team All-Dade County and voted all-conference and second-team all-state as a defensive lineman. He also returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.
College career
Wadsworth was
recruited by only one small college, Stony Brook in New York. Wadsworth decided to attend Florida State University, and played for the
Florida State Seminoles football
The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of American football. The Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Col ...
team as a
walk-on and eventually earned an
athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...
. He received second-team All-
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) honors his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons (1994–1996) as a
defensive tackle. Despite being a potential top-10 NFL Draft pick after his junior season, he stayed for his senior year, citing a pinched nerve in his neck that forced him out of four games in 1996 as a concern regarding his physical capabilities to perform for
scouts
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpack ...
at full capacity.
He switched from defensive tackle to left defensive end for his senior season, registering 59 tackles, 19
tackles
Tackle may refer to:
* In football:
** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football
** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football
** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...
for a loss and 16
quarterback sacks, placing him second in both categories in the school's all-time records. One of four finalists for the
Lombardi Award
The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lomba ...
, he was named first-team All-ACC and a consensus first-team
All-American. He was also selected ACC Player of the Year, and ACC Defensive Player of the year in 1997.
Professional career
1998 NFL Draft
Wadsworth bench pressed 500 pounds and had a personal best in the squat of 690.
[Sports Illustrated.com](_blank)
/ref> The Steelers' college personnel director, Tom Modrak, said: "He's like a missile when he comes off the ball. He can keep his pads low and still run full speed. He's flexible, and he's around 280 pounds."
Wadsworth was regarded as the No. 1 prospect in the 1998 NFL Draft
The 1998 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 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...
. He was selected 3rd overall by the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona Cardinals
A lengthy holdout ensued, centered almost directly on both his demand to be paid closer to the contracts signed by the two previous picks, Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning out of University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...
at No. 1 and the San Diego Chargers' Ryan Leaf
Ryan David Leaf (born May 15, 1976) is a former American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also pl ...
from Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
at No. 2 rather than one closer to Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson selected by the Oakland Raiders at No. 4, and a provision allowing him to void the contract before expiration if he chose to do so. The holdout lasted until the night before the season-opener (44 days) with a six-year, $42 million contract including a $10.49 million signing bonus (Manning received $11.6 million on a $48 million contract, Leaf got $11.2 million on a five-year contract totaling $31.2 million), though the player-triggered option out was never consummated.
He played in all 16 games his rookie season, finishing with 5.0 sacks and 57 tackles, including 42 solo. Bothered by a knee injury in 1999, he still managed to play in 11 games, tallying 2.0 sacks, 26 tackles, and his only career interception
In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...
. Off-season knee surgery, the second of his career, held him out from most of the off-season activities, but still managed 13 tackles and one sack in nine games. At the conclusion of the 2000 season, Wadsworth underwent microfracture surgery
Fracture mechanics is the field of mechanics concerned with the study of the propagation of cracks in materials. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics to calculate the driving force on a crack and those of experimental solid mechanics t ...
on his right knee, the third surgery on that knee in his career, and arthroscopic surgery
Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the ...
on the left on January 3 with non-team physician Richard Steadman. Possibly due to concerns after teammate Eric Swann
Eric Jerrod Swann (born August 16, 1970) is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals in the 1st round (6th overall) of the 1991 NFL Draft. A 6'5", 317 lbs. defensive tackle, Swann nev ...
's semi-recovery from nine knee surgeries, the Arizona Cardinals released Wadsworth before offering a one-year, $512,000 tender that was eventually pulled off the table within days after it went unsigned.
On January 28, 2007 the ''St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'' reported that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...
were planning to give Wadsworth, now 32, a workout. The New York Jets gave Wadsworth a workout later in the offseason. On March 26, 2007, the New York Jets signed Wadsworth to a minimum-based salary contract.New York Post
Wadsworth was also said to be healthy enough to compete for an outside linebacker position. On September 1, 2007, the Jets released him.
NFL statistics
Key
* GP: games played
* COMB: combined tackles
* TOTAL: total tackles
* AST: assisted tackles
* SACK: sacks
* FF: forced fumbles
* FR: fumble recoveries
* FR YDS: fumble return yards
* INT: interceptions
* IR YDS: interception return yards
* AVG IR: average interception return
* LNG: longest interception return
* TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
* PD: passes defensed
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadsworth, Andre
1974 births
Living people
All-American college football players
American football defensive ends
Arizona Cardinals players
Florida State Seminoles football players
United States Virgin Islands players of American football
People from Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands