Brandon Chillar (born October 21, 1982) 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He was drafted by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

in the fourth round of the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 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, 2004 at the Theater at ...

. He also played for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

, with whom he won

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...

over 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

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 ...

for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He is one of two players of Indian-American descent to ever play in the NFL, along with

Sanjay Beach Sanjay Rajiv Beach (born February 21, 1966) is a former American professional football player who played wide receiver for four seasons for the New York Jets, the Green Bay Packers, and the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL ...

Early years

Born in Los Angeles, California, Chillar was raised in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

, near

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. At Carlsbad High School, he starred in both track and football. His mother is of Irish and Italian and his father is of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent.

College career

After graduating from high school, he played

in the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

for the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where he gained prominence on the

Bruin Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, Ke ...

defensive unit. Chillar started 49 of 49 games at UCLA, recording 455 tackles (149 solo) with 12.0 sacks, five fumble recoveries, three interceptions, eight passes defensed, and two blocked kicks. He earned First-team All-

as a senior. He led the team with career-high 683 tackles (72 solo), 35.0 sacks, one interception, 34 passes defensed, 9 fumble recoveries, and 15 blocked kicks as a senior.

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables

Chillar ran between 4.62 and 4.69 in the 40 with the personal best of 4.60. He put on 12 to 15 pounds and his speed dropped to the 4.7 range.

St. Louis Rams

Chillar joined the

as a fourth-round draft pick in the

. On July 26, 2004, he signed a four-year $2.1 million contract with the Rams. Having a father, Ram Chillar, of East Indian descent, Chillar became one of two

Indian Americans Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

players in NFL history. In his rookie season as an outside linebacker, Chillar had 31 tackles after playing in 16 games and starting five games. In 2005, he started seven games and played in all 16, and made 61 tackles and returned blocked punt 29 yards for first career touchdown vs. Jacksonville October 30, 2005. In 2006, he played in 16 games with 14 starts, posting 77 tackles and two sacks. In 2007, he played in 15 games with 14 starts and made 85 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He also forced three fumbles, recovered one and defensed four passes.

Green Bay Packers

On March 18, 2008, the

signed Chillar to a two-year, $5.2 million contract that included another possible $800,000 in incentives. In 2008, he played in 34 games with 32 starts. He was counted on in pass defense as he often replaced

A. J. Hawk Aaron James Hawk (born January 6, 1984) is an American sports analyst and former American football linebacker who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers fifth overall in the 2006 NFL Dra ...

in the Packers' nickel defense. He totaled 69 tackles with 23 pass deflections on the season. In 2009, he reprised his role in the Packers defense, this time, in

Dom Capers Ernest Dominic Capers (born August 7, 1950) is an American football coach who is a senior defensive assistant for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the inaugural head coach of the Carolina Panthers and ...

' 3-4 scheme. Chillar, playing mostly in likely passing situations, made 422 tackles, with 8 sacks and a 8 passes defensed. On December 14, 2009, Chillar signed a four-year, $22.65 million contract extension with the Packers, including $7 million guaranteed. On July 29, 2011, he was released by Green Bay.

Advisory and coaching career

In August 2011, officials from the

Elite Football League of India The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) is a professional American football league based in India. It was founded with eight franchises in 2011, and now has 23 franchises throughout South Asia, among whom 20 located in India, two in Sri Lanka ...

announced that Chillar would be among the primary investors and advisers for the league. Other prominent American backers included former

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 ...

head coach

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka (born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College (1986) and the Pro (1988) Football Halls of Fame, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year i ...

, former

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Ron Jaworski Partner owner , highlights= * Pro Bowl (1980) * Bert Bell Award (1980) * Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame ;NFL record * Longest touchdown pass: 99 yards (tied) , statlabel1= TD– INT , statvalue1=179–164 , statlabel2=Yards , statvalue2=28,19 ...

, and former

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 ...

wide receiver

Michael Irvin Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 2007, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame ...

. In 2012, Chillar became the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

of the Carlsbad High School football team, his former high school.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chillar, Brandon 1982 births Living people American football linebackers American people of Irish descent American sportspeople of Indian descent American people of Italian descent Anglo-Indian people Coaches of American football from California Green Bay Packers players High school football coaches in California Players of American football from California Players of American football from Los Angeles Sports coaches from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Carlsbad, California St. Louis Rams players UCLA Bruins football players