Adrion Dante "Dri" Archer (born August 9, 1991) 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 ...

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Kent State. Archer has also been a member of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.

High school

Archer attended Venice High School, where he was a member of the basketball, football, and track teams. In track, he finished second 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 contes ...

final of state track meet in his first full season of running (behind World Class sprinter Dentarius Locke and ahead of third place

Denard Robinson Denard Xavier Robinson (born September 22, 1990) is currently the Assistant Director of Player Personnel for the University of Michigan football program. Robinson is also a former American football running back who played for four seasons in th ...

), with a time of 10.49 seconds. He also ran the 200 meters in 21.46 seconds. As a senior, he was named to the all-area first-team in football. He helped Venice High School win two district titles."Dri Archer"
kentstatesports.com. Retrieved February 8, 2013.

College career

Archer was offered track scholarships from both Clemson and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. Kent State was the only school to offer him a football scholarship where he elected to attend. As a freshman at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

, in 2009, he played in 11 games as a wide receiver/running back and had 246 rushing yards and 231 receiving yards. The following season, he had 140 rushing yards and 75 receiving yards. Before the 2011 season, Archer was ruled ineligible for academic reasons. In 2012, Archer had 1,429 rushing yards, 16 rushing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s, 561 receiving yards, and four receiving touchdowns. His 24 total touchdowns led the MAC and set a single-season school record. Against Ball State, Archer had a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown and set a career-high with 350 all-purpose yards. Against

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

, he had a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, and a kick return touchdown. Against

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, he had 222 rushing yards, a rushing touchdown, and a passing touchdown. Archer was named the MAC Special Teams Player of the Year. He made the All-MAC first-team as a running back and kick returner. He was also a finalist for the

Paul Hornung Award The Paul Hornung Award is a college football award that was created in January 2010 by the Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) with the support of Paul Hornung, a native and resident of Louisville, Kentucky and member of the College Football Hall ...

. Archer was a consensus All-American.

Statistics

Source:

Professional career

2014 NFL Draft

At the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...

, Archer ran the

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a h ...

in 4.26 seconds, which is the fourth-fastest time ever recorded since the NFL began electronic timing.

Pittsburgh Steelers

He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 3rd round with the 97th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. On September 7, 2014, Archer made his NFL debut against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

. In his rookie season, Archer totaled ten carries for 40 yards and seven receptions for 23 yards to go along with occasional kickoff return duties in 12 games. In 2015, Archer saw more action in the kick return game but did not factor into the offense. He finished with 14 kickoff returns for 324 net yards for a 25.29 average. On November 5, 2015, Archer was waived by the Steelers.

New York Jets

On February 3, 2016, Archer signed a reserve/future contract with the New York Jets. On May 9, 2016, Archer was waived by the Jets.

Buffalo Bills

Archer was claimed off waivers by the Buffalo Bills on May 10, 2016. When he failed to report to the team, he was placed on the reserve/did not report list on May 18, 2016.

References

External links

Kent State Golden Flashes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Dri 1991 births Living people All-American college football players American football return specialists American football running backs Buffalo Bills players Kent State Golden Flashes football players New York Jets players People from Sarasota County, Florida Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Florida