Cyrus Danall Gray (born November 18, 1989) 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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. 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 ...

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 ...

. Gray was drafted by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in the sixth round of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. He also had brief stints during the 2016 off-season with 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 ...

and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

High school career

Gray first attended Duncanville High School before DeSoto High School, where he played football and ran track. In football, he played

for the DeSoto Eagles

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 ...

team. During his award-winning junior campaign, he ran for 1,482 yards and 31 touchdowns while also hauling in 38 passes for 436 yards and two more scores, being named to the Texas Sports Writer's Association All-State Second-team as a kick returner and Third-team as a running back. As a senior, he garnered Honorable Mention 5A All-State running back honors from both The Associated Press and the Texas Sports Writer's Association after rushing for 1,975 yards and 28 touchdowns. In

track & 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 ...

, Gray was one of the state's top performers in the 100-meter dash. He ran a PR of 10.74 seconds in the

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

at the 2007 Jesuit Sheaner Relays, placing second. In addition, he also ran 41.80 seconds on the Desoto's

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

squad.

College career

As a junior in 2010, Gray rushed for 1,133 yards with 12 touchdowns and was an All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

honorable mention for the second consecutive season.

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

In the

, Gray was drafted by the

in the sixth round of the draft. Before the season, Gray was listed 5th string on the depth chart. He got his first career carry against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

on September 30, 2012. It was for 15 yards. Gray finished the season with 44 yards on 7 carries. On July 29, 2015, Gray was released by the Chiefs.

Atlanta Falcons

On August 10, 2016, Gray was signed by the Falcons. On August 29, 2016, Gray was released by the Falcons with an injury settlement.

References

External links

*
NFL Combine bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Cyrus 1989 births Living people American football running backs Texas A&M Aggies football players Kansas City Chiefs players Denver Broncos players Atlanta Falcons players People from DeSoto, Texas Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from Dallas County, Texas