Brian Edward Winters (born July 10, 1991) 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 ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

who is a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...

. He played college football at Kent State. He also played for the Buffalo Bills and the Arizona Cardinals.

Early years

Winters attended Hudson High School in

Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan statistical area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, t ...

, and played high school football for the Hudson Explorers. He received All-Ohio and All-Northeast Ohio Conference honors his senior season, after being named all-conference his junior year. In addition to lettering in football twice, Winters also lettered three times in wrestling, and was named all-conference in wrestling his freshman and sophomore years. Rated as only a two-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, he accepted a scholarship offer from Kent State over offers from

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

and Syracuse.

College career

Winters enrolled in

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

, where he played for the

Kent State Golden Flashes football Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

team from 2009 to 2012. He started every game after joining the Golden Flashes in 2009, 50 in total. He was named to the All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC) team three times during his career: third-team as a sophomore, second-team as a junior, and first-team as a senior.

Professional career

New York Jets

Winters was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round, with the 72nd overall pick, of the

. On May 10, 2013, Winters signed a four-year deal with the Jets. He started 12 games as a rookie. On October 13, 2014, against 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 headquar ...

, Winters left the game with a knee injury. The next day, an MRI revealed a torn ACL, prematurely ending his 2014 season. In his first year as the full-time starter at right guard, Winters started 13 games in 2016. On October 2, 2016, against the Seattle Seahawks, Winters hit defensive end Michael Bennett head-to-head after a play, which drew a personal foul (15 yard penalty) and caused him to leave the game with concussion symptoms. He was placed on injured reserve on December 20, 2016. On January 16, 2017, Winters signed a four-year contract extension with the Jets. Winters started 13 games at right guard in 2017. He suffered an abdomen injury in Week 2, and played through the injury for most of the year before being placed on injured reserve on December 27, 2017. On November 12, 2019, Winters was placed on injured reserve after a season-ending injury. Winters was released by the Jets on August 2, 2020, after seven seasons with the team.

Buffalo Bills

On August 6, 2020, Winters signed with the Buffalo Bills after starting right guard

Jon Feliciano Jon Feliciano (born February 10, 1992) is an American football center for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Miami. Early life Feliciano was born in East Meadow, New York. He is from a t ...

suffered a torn pectoral muscle.

Arizona Cardinals

On March 24, 2021, Winters signed with the Arizona Cardinals on a one-year contract. He was released on September 25, 2021.

References

External links

Kent State Golden Flashes Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winters, Brian 1991 births Living people American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Buffalo Bills players Kent State Golden Flashes football players New York Jets players People from Hudson, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Arizona Cardinals players