Cyril Joseph Richardson (born December 27, 1990) 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 ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

. He was drafted by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

in the fifth round of the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

. 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 ...

at Baylor, where he was a unanimous All-American.

Early years

A native of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, Richardson attended L. B. Landry High School in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

as a freshman on the

junior varsity team Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

. Richardson left New Orleans with his parents, Albert Joseph and Anita Richardson, during

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in 2005. They moved to the suburbs of

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

, where Richardson attended Baker High School for his sophomore year. A late-season addition to the Baker football team, he rarely played before the family moved to

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, in October 2006. In Fort Worth, Richardson enrolled at

North Crowley High School North Crowley High School is a public high school in Fort Worth, Texas. It administers grades 9-12 and is part of the Crowley Independent School District. The school's colors are royal blue and silver. The school's mascot is the Panther. The sch ...

, where he joined the football varsity but did not play during his junior season for academic reasons. Finally returning to the field as a senior, Richardson was named first-team All-District 3-5A in 2008. North Crowley advanced to the first round of the UIL playoffs, losing 21–0 to

Luke Joeckel Luke Tobias Joeckel (; born November 6, 1991) is a former American football offensive lineman. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars second overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas A&M, starting all 37 games at lef ...

's Arlington. Richardson graduated in 2009 from North Crowley High School. Regarded as a three-star recruit by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'', Richardson was ranked as the No. 90 offensive tackle prospect in the class of 2009, which was headed by

D. J. Fluker Danny Lee Jesus "D. J." Fluker (born March 13, 1991) is an American football offensive tackle for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He ...

and

Mason Walters Mason Walters is an American football offensive lineman and is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin. Walters is considered one of the best offensive guard prospects of his class. Walters currently works as a Senior Analyst for Real ...

. He drew limited interest from several Big 12 schools, and eventually signed with Baylor.

College career

After being

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman in 2009, Richardson played in 12 games in 2010, with four starts on an offensive line that also included

Danny Watkins Danny William Watkins (born November 6, 1984) is a former American football offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted fourth overall by the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in the 2010 CFL Draft, but played ou ...

at left tackle and Robert Griffin at right tackle. Richardson totaled 63 knockdowns and averaged coach's grade of 80.5. As a sophomore in 2011, Richardson replaced Watkins at left tackle, starting all 13 games of the season to protect quarterback

Robert Griffin III Robert Lee Griffin III (born February 12, 1990), nicknamed RG3 and RGIII, is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Baylor, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected second overa ...

's blindside. As a junior in 2012, Richardson moved back inside to left guard and started 12 of 13 games, as redshirt freshman

Spencer Drango Spencer Joseph Drango (born October 15, 1992) is a former American football guard. He played college football at Baylor. A freshman All-American in 2012, Drango was considered one of the best offensive tackles in his class. He was drafted by t ...

took over as left tackle. Richardson posted a team-best average coaches grade of 89.8 percent and team-high 105 knockdowns on the season. He was selected 2012 Big 12 Offensive Lineman of Year by league coaches, and also earned various All-America honors (second-team: AP, SI.com, CBSSports; third-team: Phil Steele) and unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection. As a senior in 2013, Richardson anchored Baylor's offensive line at left guard, in an offense that averaged 76.4 plays in their first five games, piling up 714.4 yards per game. He earned mid-season All-American honors by ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'' as the only selection from an unbeaten Baylor Bears team.

Professional career

At one point, Richardson was considered one of the top prospects for the

. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com named him one of college football's “most physical players.”

Buffalo Bills

Richardson was drafted by the

in the fifth round, 153rd overall. He played in 12 games as a rookie, making four starts. On September 4, 2015, he was released by the Bills. On September 6, 2015, the Bills signed Richardson to their practice squad. On January 4, 2016, Richardson signed a futures contract with the

. He was released by the Bills on September 2, 2016.

Chicago Bears

On November 15, 2016, Richardson was signed to the Bears' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Bears on January 3, 2017. He was waived on September 2, 2017.

San Antonio Commanders

In September 2018, Richardson signed with the

San Antonio Commanders The San Antonio Commanders were a professional American football franchise based in San Antonio, Texas, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The league began play in February 2019. The team played their home ga ...

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

Seattle Dragons

In October 2019, Richardson was selected by the

Seattle Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons (formerly known as the Seattle Dragons) are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The team is a franchise of the new XFL and plays its home games at Lumen Field in Seattle. Originally founded ...

in the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social m ...

. 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 February 11, 2020. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

References

External links

Baylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Cyril 1990 births Living people Players of American football from New Orleans All-American college football players American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Baylor Bears football players Buffalo Bills players Chicago Bears players San Antonio Commanders players Seattle Dragons players