Chas Gessner (born August 17, 1981) 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 signed by 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 ...

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 2003 to begin his NFL career and earned a Super Bowl ring in his first year as a member of their practice squad. 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 ...

and

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is ...

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

. He was an All-American in both sports. Gessner was also a member of 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

of NFL Europe,

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

of the Arena League, and the

Florida Tuskers Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to th ...

of the UFL. Chas Gessner is currently the founder and CEO of Vitality Rx which is a Men's health subscription wellness platform targeting the root causes of age-related symptoms through a hybrid of telemedicine and concierge diagnostics.

Early years

Gessner attended Our Lady of the Good Counsel High School in

Wheaton, Maryland Wheaton is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, situated north of Washington, D.C. and northwest of downtown Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), a career officer in the Unit ...

and was a good student and a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

. In

, he won All-County and All-Conference honors. In

, he was a team captain and won

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors.

College career

Chas Gessner was an All-American in Football at the Ivy League's Brown University. He also earned All-American honors on Brown's lacrosse team, making him a rare two-sport All-American at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. Brown University senior All-American Chas Gessner, who led the nation in receiving, placed sixth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the nation's top I-AA player. Gessner's sixth-place finish was the highest finish ever for a Brown football player. A two-time Payton Award finalist, Gessner led the nation with 11.4 receptions per game, completing the 2002 season with 114 receptions, third best in NCAA I-AA history. Gessner tied an NCAA I-AA record with 24 receptions against Rhode Island, a record held by legendary NFL wide receiver Jerry Rice, who caught 24 passes for Mississippi Valley State against Southern University in 1983. Gessner made 14 catches in the first half alone against the Rams. He hauled in 24 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns (12 yards, 14 yards), and was named the National I-AA Offensive Player of the Week by The Sports Network, the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, and the New England Football Writers Gold Helmet Award Winner. His average of 11.4 receptions per game is also third in I-AA history. Gessner's 292 career receptions are 4th in NCAA I-AA history, and second in the Ivy League record book, while his 36 career touchdown receptions are second best in Ivy football history and 10th in NCAA I-AA history. Gessner completed his career with 3,408 all-time receiving yards, 18th best in I-AA history.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Gessner earned a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

ring as a member of the

in 2003. He was allocated by the

to the

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

, helped them win the

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

in 2004 and was named to the All-NFL Europe team.

New York Jets

Subsequently, he joined the

in 2005.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Gessner saw his first significant playing time in a regular season NFL game against the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

in 2007.

Orlando Predators

Gessner joined the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

in 2008 with the Orlando Predators where he was honored as the March Rookie of the Month and posted 76 receptions for 801 yards and 20 touchdowns in the first 11 weeks of the season.

Seattle Seahawks

Gessner was signed by the

to a two-year contract in May 2008.

Professional Lacrosse

Gessner was drafted 2nd overall by the Baltimore Bayhawks in the MLL 2008 draft in December 2008.

Second stint with Predators

Gessner later re-joined the

and played in their playoff game against the Cleveland Gladiators where he scored 3 touchdowns in the 69-66 loss to the Gladiators.

Florida Tuskers

Gessner was drafted by the

on the

UFL Premiere Season Draft The UFL "Premiere" Season Draft was the inaugural draft of the United Football League (UFL). The results of the draft were announced via press release on June 19, 2009. Among the players selected were those that participated in earlier workouts in ...

in 2009 and signed with the team on August 17. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on October 25. Gessner received a DUI in Tampa that year, which subsequently ended his career.

References

External links

Just Sports StatsUnited Football League bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gessner, Chas 1981 births Living people Players of American football from Washington, D.C. American football wide receivers Brown Bears football players New England Patriots players Berlin Thunder players New York Jets players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Orlando Predators players Seattle Seahawks players Florida Tuskers players Spokane Shock players Virginia Destroyers players People from Wheaton, Maryland