Derek Rivers (born May 9, 1994) 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 ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

of the

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). 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 ...

Youngstown State Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges an ...

Early years

Born in

Augusta, Maine Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the Un ...

, Rivers and his family moved to North Carolina when he was five months old. Rivers later attended Kinston High School in Kinston. After high school, he attended Fork Union Military Academy for a year.

College career

Rivers played at Youngstown State from 2013 to 2016. During his career he had a school record 41 career sacks, including 14 as a senior. He accumulated 56.5 tackles for loss, 47 QB hurries and 119 solo tackles in his college career at Youngstown State. As a Senior, Rivers lead one of the top statistically rated defenses in the FCS to the National Championship where they would lose to James Madison University 24-14. Rivers was a three time 1st Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference performer as well as a two time FCS All-American. Rivers finished his career #5 All-Time in FCS history in career sacks.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Rivers was drafted by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in the third round, 83rd overall, in the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

. During training camp, Rivers suffered a torn ACL and was ruled out for the season. He was officially placed on injured reserve on September 2, 2017. Rivers made his NFL debut in Week 3 of the season, against the Detroit Lions. In week 17 he recorded his first career sack when he took down

Sam Darnold Samuel Richard Darnold (born June 5, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, where he became the first freshman to win the Archie Griffin Awar ...

. Rivers helped the Patriots reach

Super Bowl LIII Super Bowl LIII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Confe ...

, although he was inactive, and the team defeated the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

13-3. The following season (), Rivers suffered an injury in week 2 of the preseason, and 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 August 31, 2019. Rivers made the 53-man roster coming out of 's shortened preseason, and was active in week 1, where he recorded his first sack since 2018. He was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the Patriots on October 17, 2020, and activated on October 21. On November 21, 2020, Rivers was waived by the Patriots.

Los Angeles Rams

On November 23, 2020, Rivers was claimed off waivers by the

Houston Texans

On March 23, 2021, Rivers signed with the

. He was released on August 31, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 24. On December 9, the Texans signed Rivers to a two-year, $1 million deal that runs through the 2022 season. On August 30, 2022, Rivers was placed on injured reserve. Rivers re-signed with the Texans on March 16, 2023.

References

External links

Youngstown State Penguins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivers, Derek Living people 1994 births People from Kinston, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina American football defensive ends American football linebackers Youngstown State Penguins football players New England Patriots players Los Angeles Rams players Houston Texans players