Benjamin Claxton (born July 30, 1980) is a former

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 ...

center and

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

. He was selected by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

in the fifth round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. 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 Ole Miss. Claxton was also a member of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

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) NFC South, South divisio ...

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

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 ...

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

Early life

Claxton attended Dublin High School in

Dublin, Georgia Dublin is a city in Laurens County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,074. It is the county seat of Laurens County. History The original settlement was named after Dublin, Ireland. Dublin, accordi ...

College career

Claxton played

at Ole Miss, starting 37 games during his college career. He earned

Freshman All-American Underclass All-American is an honorific for high school and college athletes for excellence in competition. The athletes recognized with this title are considered the best players of a specific season in their sport that are members of a given cla ...

honors in 1999, and was named second-team All-SEC in both 2001 and 2002. He also played in the 2003 Senior Bowl.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

Claxton was selected by the

in the fifth round, with the 157th overall pick, of the

. He officially signed with the team on July 23, 2003. He was waived on August 26, 2003.

Cleveland Browns

Claxton was signed to the practice squad of the

on October 20, 2003. He was released on November 4, 2003.

Miami Dolphins

Claxton was signed to the

' practice squad on November 19, 2003. He was released on December 9, 2003.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Claxton was signed to the

' practice squad on December 16, 2003. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Buccaneers on December 29, 2003. He was allocated to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

, where he played for the

during the

2004 NFL Europe season The 2004 NFL Europe season was the 12th season in 14 years of the American Football league that started out as the World League of American Football. The Cologne Centurions replaced the FC Barcelona Dragons for the 2004 season. World Bowl XII ...

. Claxton started all 10 games for the Thunder and helped them win

World Bowl XII World Bowl XII was NFL Europe's 2004 championship game. The game was played at Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on June 12, 2004. In this game, the defending champion Frankfurt Galaxy returned to try to protect their title after going th ...

while also earning All-NFL Europe honors. He was waived by the Buccaneers on September 5, 2004.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Claxton signed with the

on February 3, 2005. He was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Thunder for the second consecutive year in 2005. He once again started all 10 games for the Thunder but this time the team lost

World Bowl XIII World Bowl XIII, officially known as Yello Strom World Bowl XIII, was NFL Europe's 2005 championship game. It was played at the LTU arena in Düsseldorf, Germany on June 11, 2005. In this match-up, the 6–4 Amsterdam Admirals got back to the W ...

. Claxton also garnered All-NFL Europe recognition for the second straight year. He was waived on September 3, 2005.

Atlanta Falcons

Claxton was signed by the

on September 4, 2005. He played in two games for the Falcons during the 2005 season. He was

waived/injured The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see ''Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

on August 29, 2006 and reverted to injured reserve the next day. Claxton re-signed with the team on March 19, 2007. He was waived on May 2, 2007.

Oakland Raiders

Claxton signed with the

on May 3, 2007. He was waived/injured on August 14 and reverted to injured reserve the next day. He was waived by the Raiders on August 20, 2007.

Seattle Seahawks

In August 2008, Claxton was preparing to take the LSAT when he scheduled a workout with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. By the time he arrived, the team had already signed someone else. His agent informed him that the

were interested, and after a workout the team signed him on August 3. He was waived on August 30, 2008.

Detroit Lions

Claxton was signed to the

' practice squad on September 8, 2008.

Arizona Cardinals

Claxton signed with the

on January 7, 2009. He played in one game for the Cardinals during the 2009 season. He re-signed with the team on March 17, 2010, and again on July 30, 2011. Calton was released by the Cardinals on September 3, 2011. Claxton was a member of 10 different NFL teams over eight years but only played in three NFL games.

Post-football career

Claxton graduated from the Mississippi College School of Law in 2015 and now works as a lawyer.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bioOakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claxton, Ben Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football centers American football offensive guards Ole Miss Rebels football players Denver Broncos players Cleveland Browns players Miami Dolphins players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Berlin Thunder players Pittsburgh Steelers players Atlanta Falcons players Oakland Raiders players Seattle Seahawks players Detroit Lions players Arizona Cardinals players 1980 births Living people People from Dublin, Georgia Mississippi College School of Law alumni