Brandon Josiah LaFell (born November 4, 1986) 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 ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

in the third round of the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

, and has also played for 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 ...

where he was a member of the

Super Bowl XLIX Super Bowl XLIX was an American football game played to determine the champions of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conf ...

winning team. 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 ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

High school career

LaFell attended Lamar High School in Houston, where he played football, basketball, and ran track. He was coached by Tom Nolen. In

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, LaFell caught 46 passes for 1,116 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior. Also starring on special teams, he returned punts of 65 and 58 yards for touchdowns. LaFell was a member of the Houston Chronicle Top 100 and named first-team All-Greater Houston Area in 2004. In

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, LaFell was a standout

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

. In

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, LaFell competed in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

event.

College career

After redshirting his initial year at LSU, LaFell saw action in 11 of the Tigers’ 13 games in 2006. His first career play was a 58-yard touchdown reception against

Louisiana-Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

in week one. On the year, LaFell caught five passes that went for 140 yards and two touchdowns. He received Freshman All-SEC honors by the coaches. In 2007, as a sophomore, LaFell played in all 14 games with nine starts. He ranked first on team in receiving yards (656) and second in receptions (50), while catching four touchdown passes and averaging 13.1 yards a reception. LaFell helped LSU to win the

BCS National Championship The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college foot ...

that year. As a junior, LaFell emerged as one of the top receivers in the country, as he caught 63 passes for 929 yards and eight touchdowns. He ranked second in the SEC in yards per game with 71.5 per contest and was third in the league with 4.8 receptions per contest. LaFell subsequently earned First-team All-SEC honors by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Professional career

LaFell was considered one of the best wide receivers in his draft class, and drew comparisons to

Dwayne Bowe Dwayne Lorenzo Bowe (born September 21, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Louisiana State University, and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played ...

, another wide receiver out of LSU.

Carolina Panthers

On April 23, 2010, LaFell was selected by the

in the third round, 78th overall. Despite not starting over

Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...

and

David Gettis David Alexander Gettis (born August 27, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver. He was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football for Baylor University. High school career D ...

, he gradually gained playing time, eventually taking the #3 slot at receiver. He recorded his first NFL touchdown in Week 8 against 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 arr ...

, a 17-yard pass from Matt Moore. He finished the season with 38 catches for 468 yards; his longest catch was of 44 yards. He also gained 60 additional yards on the ground, all of which came on a single

end-around The end-around is a play in American football in which an end or wide receiver crosses the backfield towards the opposite end of the line and receives a handoff directly from the quarterback. The receiver then may proceed to do one of two thing ...

play in Week 17 against the

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 ...

, his longest gain of the season. LaFell set a

franchise record on Christmas Eve in 2011 with a 91-yard touchdown catch from rookie quarterback

Cam Newton Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He has played for 11 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Super Cam", he is the NFL ...

. It was the longest pass play in Panther history.

New England Patriots

On March 15, 2014, LaFell signed a three-year, $9 million contract with the

. He chose to wear #19 because friend and former teammate Ted Ginn Jr. wears the same number. Against the

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 ...

in Week 8, LaFell recorded a career-high eleven catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. In 2014, LaFell had his most prolific season to date, recording 74 catches for 953 yards and 7 touchdowns. LaFell would help the Patriots finish 12-4. In the Divisional Round against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

with the Patriots down 31-28, Lafell caught the game-winning touchdown to help the Patriots defeat the Ravens 35-31. In

, LaFell had 4 catches for 29 yards and the first touchdown of the game as the Patriots defeated the

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 ...

28-24. LaFell started the 2015 season on PUP with a foot injury and missed the first five games of the season before returning in New England's 30-23 win over 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 ...

. LaFell struggled throughout the 2015 season with multiple drops and could never live up to his career performance the previous year. On March 2, 2016, LaFell was released by the Patriots.

Cincinnati Bengals

On March 30, 2016, LaFell signed with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

. On September 11, 2016, LaFell made his Bengals debut in a 23-22 victory over the

. He had four receptions for 91 yards. He played 16 games in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, starting 14 of them as the Bengals went 6-9-1 and missed the playoffs. He finished the season with 64 receptions for 862 yards and six touchdowns. On March 8, 2017, LaFell signed a two-year contract extension with the Bengals. On September 10, 2017, LaFell began the 2017 season with three receptions for 24 yards in a 20–0 loss to the

. He finished the season with 52 receptions for 548 yards and three touchdowns. On August 2, 2018, Lafell was released by the Bengals.

Oakland Raiders

On September 3, 2018, LaFell signed with the

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 ...

. He played in six games, recording 12 catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns, before suffering a torn Achilles in Week 11. He was placed on injured reserve on November 19, 2018.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

New England Patriots bio

Carolina Panthers bio

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafell, Brandon 1986 births Living people Players of American football from Houston Lamar High School (Houston, Texas) alumni American football wide receivers LSU Tigers football players Carolina Panthers players New England Patriots players Cincinnati Bengals players Oakland Raiders players