Chris Dieker (born July 22, 1987) 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 with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the Shenyang Black Rhinos of the

China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football league that played its games in the China, People's Republic of China. It featured players from the now-defunct Arena Football League (AFL) and ...

(CAFL). After playing

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 ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

, he played for the

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

of the AFL from 2013 to 2016.

Early life

Born in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...

, the son of Charles and Susan Dieker, Chris attended Topeka's Hayden High School.

College career

Dieker continued his football career at

. Dieker was a 4-year starter for the Salukis, going 20-9 during that time. He helped the Salukis to two conference championships, and was the 3rd quarterback in school history to pass the 5,000-yard mark for his career.

Statistics

''Source'':

Professional career

Dieker was rated the 30th best quarterback in the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Pittsburgh Steelers

After going undrafted in 2011, Dieker signed with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

on July 27. He was released by the Steelers on August 4, 2011.

Iowa Barnstormers

He played for the

Iowa Barnstormers The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines, Iowa) ...

of 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 2012.

Cleveland Gladiators

Dieker signed with the

for 2013. Dieker was serving as the backup to starter Brian Zbydniewski, when Zbydniewski went down with injury, Dieker became the starter for the Gladiators. With the team's playoff hopes dwindling, Dieker delivered a big win for the Gladiators, scoring 8 touchdowns in a win over the

Pittsburgh Power The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The team belonged to the East Division of the American Conference (AC) in the Arena Football League (AFL). Founded in 2011, the Power ...

, helping keep the Gladiators' playoff hopes alive. He became the starting quarterback in 2016 after the departure of

Shane Austin Shane Austin (born June 14, 1989) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at University of Hawaiʻi. Austin went undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft and signed with the Everett Raptors of the Indoor Football League (IFL) ...

. Dieker was injured in the first game of the 2016 season. On June 10, 2016, Dieker was placed on reassignment.

Philadelphia Soul

On June 24, 2016, Dieker was assigned to the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

Beijing Lions

Dieker was selected by the

Beijing Lions The Beijing Lions are a professional arena football team based in Beijing, China. They are members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They won the China Bowl in 2016. History The Beijing Lions were one of the first six teams to play in the ...

in the 2016 CAFL Draft and was the backup to Luke Collis during the 2016 season. On November 6, 2016, during the first

China Bowl China Bowl may refer to: * China Bowl (NFL), a proposed football game by the National Football League * China Bowl (CAFL), the championship football game for the China Arena Football League * China Bowl (1945), a game between US Army and Navy play ...

, Dieker played wide receiver due to an injury to

James Romain James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. Dieker caught 9 passes for 107 yards and one touchdown as the Lions beat the

Qingdao Clipper The Qingdao Clipper are a professional arena football team based in Qingdao, Shandong. They are members of the China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football l ...

by a score of 35–34. He also scored a rushing touchdown during the game.

Shenyang Black Rhinos

Dieker was selected by the Shenyang Black Rhinos with the first overall pick in the 2017 CAFL Draft.

AFL statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

References

External links

AFL bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dieker, Chris 1987 births Living people American football quarterbacks Southern Illinois Salukis football players Pittsburgh Steelers players Iowa Barnstormers players Cleveland Gladiators players Philadelphia Soul players Beijing Lions players Shenyang Black Rhinos players Players of American football from Kansas People from Topeka, Kansas