Christopher Shawn Patrick Canty (born March 30, 1976) is a former American college and professional

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 ...

player who was a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and

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 ...

. 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

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, and was a two-time All-American. A first-round pick in the 1997 NFL Draft, he played professionally 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 ...

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 ...

, and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

of the NFL, and

Las Vegas Gladiators {{Cat main, Thomas & Mack Center Paradise, Nevada University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wikipedia categories named after buildings and structures in the United States Wikipedia categories named after sports venues ...

and

Rio Grande Valley Dorados The Rio Grande Valley Dorados were a professional arena football team. They began playing in 2004 as an expansion member of af2, the minor league to the Arena Football League. They played their home games at Obra Homes Field at Dodge Arena in ...

of the Arena League.

Early years

Canty was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
Chris Canty
. Retrieved February 3, 2012. He attended

Eastern Regional High School Eastern Regional High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school for students in ninth through twelfth grades from Berlin Borough, Gibbsboro and Voorhees Township, three communities in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, o ...

Voorhees Township, New Jersey Voorhees Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,131, reflecting an inc ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
Chris Canty
. Retrieved February 3, 2012. and played for the Eastern Vikings

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

team.

College career

Canty attended Kansas State University, where he played for the

Kansas State Wildcats football The Kansas State Wildcats football program (variously Kansas State, K-State or KSU) is the college football, intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Kansas State Wildcats, Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA Di ...

team from 1994 to 1996. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American as a sophomore in 1995 and junior in 1996 and won the Jack Tatum Award as a junior. He decided to forgo his final season of college eligibility and entered the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

Professional career

The New England Patriots selected Canty with the twenty-ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft.Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
1997 National Football League Draft
. Retrieved February 2, 2012. Over four NFL seasons, he played for the Patriots as well as the

and

. In 58 career games for those three NFL teams, he had four

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s and 126

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Chris Canty
. Retrieved February 3, 2012. He finished his pro career playing for the

of the Arena Football League and the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

External sources

AFL article

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canty, Chris 1976 births Living people All-American college football players American football cornerbacks Eastern Regional High School alumni Kansas State Wildcats football players Las Vegas Gladiators players New England Patriots players New Orleans Saints players Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey People from Voorhees Township, New Jersey Rio Grande Valley Dorados players Seattle Seahawks players Sportspeople from the Delaware Valley Players of American football from Long Beach, California Players of American football from New Jersey

Early years

College career

Professional career

See also

External sources

References