Bradlee Joseph Ioane Anae ( ; born January 17, 1998) 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 wi ...

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 ...

for the New York Jets of 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). He played college football at

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Early years

Anae grew up in

Laie, Hawaii Laie ( haw, Lāie, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Koolauloa District on the island of Oahu () in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, means " leaf" ( is a climbing screwpine: ''Freycinetia arborea''). The p ...

and attended

Kahuku High & Intermediate School Kahuku High & Intermediate School, located in Kahuku CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, on the island of Oahu, serves approximately 1,850 students in grades seven through twelve and is part of the Windward District on the is ...

, where he was a member of the basketball, football, and track teams. As a senior, he contributed to the school earning a 13-0 record and winning the Division 1 state title. He received All-state and second-team All-USA Hawaii honors. Rated a three-star recruit, Anae committed to play college football at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

over offers from Vanderbilt and BYU. He followed his older sister Adora, who was a volleyball scholar athlete at the school.

College career

Anae played in six games for Utah as a true freshman defensive end backup, recording four tackles and two sacks. He started 9 games at right defensive end and one at defensive tackle for the Utes during his sophomore year, registering 39 total tackles, 3 forced fumbles, with a team-leading 7.0 sacks and tying for the team lead with 10.0 tackles for loss. As a junior, he started all 14 games (the last 11 at right defensive end). He led the Pac-12 Conference with 8.0 sacks and finished third in the conference with 15.5 tackles for loss along with 51 total tackles (fifth on the team), three passes broken up, 2 forced fumbles and was named first-team All-Pac-12. He considered entering the 2019 NFL Draft, but ultimately decided to return for his senior season. As a senior, he started all 14 games at left defensive end and was part of a stout defensive unit that saw 6 players selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. Anae was named preseason first-team All-Pac-12 and to the

Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Ameri ...

watch list going into his senior year. He tied the Utah career sack record with 29.5 after posting 1.5 sacks against Colorado on November 30, 2019. Anae broke the career sack record in the

2019 Alamo Bowl The 2019 Alamo Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2019, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST (6:30 p.m. local CST) on ESPN. It was the 27th edition of the Alamo Bowl, and was one of the 2019–20 bowl games conclu ...

, the final game of his career, with a half sack against the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Anae finished his senior season with 14 starts, 41 tackles, 13.0 sacks, 14.0 tackles for loss and a forced fumble, while being named first-team All-Pac-12, consensus All-American selection, received the

Morris Trophy Coaches of the Pac-12 Conference bestow the following awards at the end of each football season. The conference was founded in its current form as the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1959, but traces its roots to the Pacific Coast Co ...

as the best defensive lineman in the Pac-12 and was a finalist for the

Ted Hendricks Award The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to college football's top defensive end. The award is named after Ted Hendricks, a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame, and is presented by his own foundation. I ...

. He also participated in the

2020 Senior Bowl The 2020 Senior Bowl was an all-star college football exhibition game played on January 25, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. CST, at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2020 draft of the professional National Fo ...

, where he had 3 sacks and received defensive MVP honors. He finished his college career with 38 starts out of 47 games, 30 sacks (school record), 210 sack yards (school record), 41.5 tackles for loss (fourth in school history), 245 tackle for loss yards (school record) and 6 forced fumbles (tied for eighth in school history).

College statistics

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Anae was selected by the

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 divi ...

in the fifth round with the 179th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, after dropping because he didn't test well at the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...

. As a rookie, he appeared in the first six games with minimum playing opportunities. After

Randy Gregory Randy Gregory (born November 23, 1992) is an American football outside linebacker for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Nebraska, and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of ...

returned from his suspension, Anae was declared inactive in nine of the last 10 contests. It was later reported in the media, that the team's

depth and his struggles against the run were the reasons for his lack of playing time. He played mainly on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

and had one defensive tackle. On September 24, 2021, he was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

list. On October 6, 2021, he was activated from the reserve/

list. On November 2, 2021, Anae was waived after committing a defensive offsides penalty on fourth-and-5 in the second quarter against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, that kept a drive alive. On November 4, 2021, he was re-signed to the practice squad. He appeared in 4 games as a backup defensive end, making 2 defensive tackles.

New York Jets

On January 19, 2022, Anae signed a reserve/future contract with the New York Jets. He was waived on August 30, 2022 and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on January 7, 2023.

Personal life

Anae's father, Brad Anae, played college football at

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

and was an honorable mention All-American in 1980 and a third-team All-America selection in 1981 and played three seasons in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

. His two uncles, Matt and

Robert Anae Robert Anae (born December 21, 1958) is an American football coach and former player who is current serving as the offensive coordinator (OC) for NC State since December 2022. Prior to NC State, he was the OC at the University of Virginia and Bri ...

, also played at BYU and Robert is currently the offensive coordinator at Syracuse university.

References

External links

Utah Utes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anae, Bradlee 1998 births Living people People from Laie Players of American football from Hawaii American football defensive ends Utah Utes football players All-American college football players Dallas Cowboys players New York Jets players