Cory Bartholomew Redding (born November 15, 1980) 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 wi ...

defensive tackle. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. T ...

and played college football at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Redding also played for the Seattle Seahawks,

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals.

Early years

He was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Carl Benjamin Redding and Mary Zerlene Brantley. Redding played football at North Shore High School. In his senior year in 1999, he was named

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's Defensive Player of the Year and was a consensus

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n choice. He also excelled in track and field, winning the state Class 5A title in the discus as a junior and senior (career best toss of 193'9").

College career

Redding played college football for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. During his four years there, he was a two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection and played in every game, including a string of 35 consecutive starts on the defensive line. He finished his collegiate career with 201 tackles (123 solos), 21 sacks (174 yards), and 53 tackles for a loss totaling 249 yards (third on the school's career-record list).

Professional career

Detroit Lions

In the 2003

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 ...

Redding was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 3rd round (66th overall). He became the starter at left defensive end prior to the 2004 season. In 2005, he played in all 16 games and set a career-high with 42 tackles (29 solo). He emerged in 2006 as one of the best inside pass-rushers in the NFL after moving from defensive end to tackle. On February 22, 2007, the Lions placed the

franchise tag In the National Football League (NFL), the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are met. Each team has on ...

on Redding and he was designated as the team's non-exclusive franchise player. On July 16, the Lions and Redding agreed to a seven-year, $49 million contract. The deal included over $16 million in guaranteed money. The move came amid a bit of controversy, as it made Redding the highest paid defensive end in the league. Redding was placed on season-ending injured reserve with injuries to his knee and groin on December 12, 2008.

Seattle Seahawks

On March 14, 2009, Detroit traded him and a 2009 fifth-round draft pick to the Seattle Seahawks for

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Julian Peterson. He was expected to play defensive end on 1st and 2nd downs and play defensive tackle on 3rd downs for extra pass rush.

Baltimore Ravens

Redding signed a two-year contract with the

on March 22, 2010. Redding intercepted a tipped pass by

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees i ...

in a week 15 game against the

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on December 19, 2010 to help seal a big win for the Ravens. It was his first career interception. Redding recorded three sacks on the season. In a divisional playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on January 15, 2011, Redding scored his first career touchdown after recovering a fumble by

Ben Roethlisberger Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr. (; born March 2, 1982), nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football ...

. Redding had another solid season in 2011, recording 4 sacks and helping the Ravens defense allow the 2nd fewest yards in the league.

Indianapolis Colts

Redding signed with the Indianapolis Colts on March 14, 2012.

Arizona Cardinals

Redding signed with the Arizona Cardinals on March 11, 2015. On October 11, 2015, Redding had an interception against the Detroit Lions that he returned 30 yards. On December 27, 2015, Redding returned an Aaron Rodgers fumble 36 yards for a score against the Green Bay Packers. In the last game of the regular season against the Seahawks, Redding injured his ankle and was put on Injured Reserve, missing the rest of that game and the playoffs. He was subsequently released on April 18, 2016. He retired on June 29, 2016.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bioIndianapolis Colts bioSeattle Seahawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redding, Cory 1980 births Living people Players of American football from Houston American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Texas Longhorns football players Detroit Lions players Seattle Seahawks players Baltimore Ravens players Indianapolis Colts players Arizona Cardinals players North Shore Senior High School (Texas) alumni Ed Block Courage Award recipients