Chris Cole (born October 12, 1977) is a former

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) wide receiver for 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 headquart ...

Early years

Cole was a standout athlete at

West Orange-Stark High School West Orange-Stark High School is a College Preparatory High school in West Orange, Texas, and the only high school in the West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District, though some students report to the West Orange-Stark Academic Alt ...

in Orange, Texas. In 1995, his senior season, he caught 53 passes for 860 yards and 14 touchdowns, helping lead his team to the Texas Class 4A State Football regional finals. Cole was also a member of the school's

track and 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 ...

team, and qualified for the Texas State Track and Field Championships in long jump and triple jump. Cole was recruited by

R. C. Slocum Richard Copeland Slocum (born November 7, 1944), is a former American football player and coach. He served as the interim athletic director at Texas A&M University from January through June 2019, and previously served as the head football coach ...

to play wide receiver for

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. He

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all four years that he played

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 ...

for the Aggies (1996–1999). His 89 career receptions still rank at No. 10 on the school's all-time list. His most productive season came as a junior in 1998, when he led the Aggies in catches (38), receiving yards (667) and touchdowns (five). He totaled 89 passes caught for 1,383 yards and 8 touchdowns.

NFL career

Cole was selected by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

, as the 70th pick overall. He played four seasons for the Broncos, with his best season coming in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. That year, he played in all 16 of the Broncos' games, logging 9 receptions for 128 yards. His 48 kickoff returns that season tied the all-time single-season Broncos record, and he ranked third in the AFC with a 23.5-yd average. On April 7, 2004, Cole 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 ...

as a

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 ...

, but did not make the team's regular-season roster. In 2005, Cole spent the offseason and preseason with the

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 ...

, who released him on August 30, 2005. In all, Cole played 35 games in the NFL, starting 2. He caught 12 passes for 164 yards, returned 89 kickoffs for a total of 2,105 yards, and made 17 tackles while playing on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

Post-NFL

In May 2006, Cole signed with the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

. He was released shortly thereafter, and in November he signed a one-year free agent contract with 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 ...

Los Angeles Avengers The Los Angeles Avengers were an Arena Football League team based in Los Angeles, California, from 2000 through 2008. They folded on April 19, 2009. History The Los Angeles Avengers played their home games at the Staples Center, which is also th ...

. On April 1, 2008, Cole signed with the CFL's

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

. He has since returned to Texas A&M University to pursue his degree in Sociology.

Family and personal life

In March 2002, Cole's first child was born, Makenna Turner. She is currently a student at Stanford University, having won many awards as a black female in STEM.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Chris 1977 births Living people People from Orange, Texas American football wide receivers American football return specialists Texas A&M Aggies football players Denver Broncos players Oakland Raiders players Jacksonville Jaguars players Edmonton Elks players Los Angeles Avengers players Toronto Argonauts players