Brett Ratliff (born August 8, 1985) 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 ...

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 ...

. He was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2007. 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 ...

Butte College Butte College is a public community college in the Butte-Glenn Community College District in Chico and Orland, California. History After the passage of the 1960 Donahoe Act, the voters of Butte County created a local community college ...

and

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 ...

. He has also been 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 ( ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

Early years

Ratliff was born in

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 census, reflecting an increase from 86,18 ...

, and attended Chico Senior High School in Chico, California, where he played football as a quarterback. He led his teams to two conference championships, (JV and freshman year) and as a senior, he was named the Chico High School Offensive Player of the Year, and was an All-Conference selection and played in the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , ...

District 4C-1 Senior All-Star Football Game in 2003.

College career

Butte College

After attending high school, Ratliff went on to

(2003–04) in

Oroville, California Oroville (''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold" and ''Ville'', French for "town") is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. The population of the city was 15,506 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 200 ...

, where he was the starting quarterback for two seasons, following

Aaron Rodgers Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rodgers began his college football career at Butte College in 2002 before transferring to the ...

. While at Butte College, he set the school's career record for touchdowns (35), completions (239), and total offensive yards (3,651).

Utah

After graduating from Butte, Ratliff went to

for the 2005 season. He spent most of the year as a backup to

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

, but he got his chance to start after Johnson suffered a season-ending injury. In his first start, Ratliff led the Utes to a 41–34 victory over rival

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 ...

to get the Utes to bowl eligibility. In his second start, he led the Utes to a 38–10 upset victory over #25

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

in the

Emerald Bowl The San Francisco Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game certified by the NCAA and played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally named the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl during its first two editions from 2002 to 2003, it w ...

. In 2006, Ratliff led the Utes to an 8–5 season record, including a 25–13 victory over

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Professional career

Ratliff was rated the 25th best quarterback in the 2007 NFL Draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

New York Jets

Ratliff signed with the New York Jets as an

following the 2007 NFL draft. After being waived on September 1, 2007, he was signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

two days later, where he spent the entire season. In 2008, Ratliff made the Jets active roster and was the third-string quarterback for the entire season.

Cleveland Browns

Ratliff was traded to the Cleveland Browns on April 25, 2009 as part of a deal for the Browns' first-round pick, which the Jets used to draft

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC) and was draft ...

in the

2009 NFL draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. The Browns also received two other players and the Jets' 17th overall pick, as well as a second round pick. Ratliff, who played under head coach

Eric Mangini Eric Anthony Mangini (born January 19, 1971) is a former American football coach and current television sports analyst. Mangini had been with the San Francisco 49ers since 2013 and served as the team's tight ends coach for two seasons before b ...

for a second straight season, was also the third-string quarterback for a second consecutive season in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. He was waived by the Browns on September 4, 2010.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On September 5, 2010, Ratliff was signed to the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad. He was released from the practice squad on September 27, 2010.

New England Patriots

On October 7, 2010, Ratliff was signed to the New England Patriots practice squad.

Second stint with Browns

On October 11, 2010, Ratliff was signed off the Patriots practice squad by the Browns to their active roster. Ratliff was waived by the team on November 16, 2010.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After spending training camp with the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

and being out of football for a few months in 2011, Ratliff was signed by the Buccaneers on December 6, 2011. He was released on September 1, 2012.

References

External links

Cleveland Browns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratliff, Brett 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Chico, California Players of American football from California American football quarterbacks Butte Roadrunners football players Utah Utes football players New York Jets players Cleveland Browns players Jacksonville Jaguars players New England Patriots players Tennessee Titans players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players