Edell Eugene Shepherd (born May 18, 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 ...

wide receiver. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2002. He played college football at San José State. Shepherd was also a member of the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

, Houston Texans and Detroit Lions.

Early years

Growing up in the South Central region of his birthplace

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Shepherd attended

Susan Miller Dorsey High School Susan Miller Dorsey High School is a high school located in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, California. It is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Village, Jefferson Park, West Adams a ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and was a letterman in football,

track and 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 eve ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. In football, as a senior, he made 39 receptions for 635 yards (16.28 yards per reception avg.) and five touchdowns. Edell Shepherd graduated from Dorsey High School in 1999.

College career

Shepherd attended

West Los Angeles College West Los Angeles College (West L.A. College or WLAC) is a public community college in Ladera Heights, Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. It is ac ...

for two years. As a sophomore, he won JC All-American honors. At

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

, in his junior year (2000), Shepherd made 42 catches for 707 yards and 4 touchdowns. In his senior season (2001), Shepherd set records for single-game receiving yardage, single-season touchdowns (17), and most touchdown receptions in a game. He had more receptions than four

Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

candidates. He was a second-team All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

selection in 2001.

Professional career

Chicago Bears (2002)

Shepherd signed with Chicago on April 23, 2002 as an

following the 2002 NFL Draft and spent all but the first two weeks of October 2002 in the practice squad.

Scottish Claymores (2003)

In the spring of 2003, the Chicago Bears assigned Shepherd to the NFL Europe team Scottish Claymores.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2003–2005)

The

signed Shepherd on September 2, 2003, three days after the Bears cut Shepherd. Making his NFL debut on December 7, Shepherd played two games for the Buccaneers in 2003. An offensive pass interference penalty on fellow wide receiver Charles Lee voided what would have been a 28-yard reception by Shepherd. On December 28, in the season finale, Shepherd made 4 receptions for 38 yards. After spending 2004 on the disabled list, Shepherd played in all regular season games in 2005. That season, Shepherd made 6 receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown. In the Buccaneers' 17-10 loss on January 7, 2006 to the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the divisional round of the 2005 postseason, Shepherd dropped a 35-yard pass with fewer than 3 minutes left in the game on 3rd down and 10. Video replay showed that Shepherd lost control of the ball before he landed on the ground; otherwise his catch and following extra point would have tied the game.

Houston Texans (2006)

Signing with the Houston Texans on September 3, 2006, Shepherd played seven games for Houston in 2006 and made 3 receptions for 22 yards.

Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos (2007–2008)

He spent 2007 out of the league after being released by Detroit. On July 26, 2008, Shepherd was placed on season-ending injured reserve with a torn ACL.

References

External links

Houston Texans bioSan Jose State bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, Edell 1980 births Living people American football wide receivers San Jose State Spartans football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Scottish Claymores players Houston Texans players West Los Angeles Wildcats football players Players of American football from Los Angeles Susan Miller Dorsey High School alumni