Forrest Noah Lamp (born February 20, 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 ...

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 ...

who is a free agent. 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 ...

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

and was drafted by the

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

in the second round of 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 ...

Early years

Lamp attended Venice High School in

Venice, Florida Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The city includes what locals call "Venice Island", a portion of the mainland that is accessed via bridges over the artificially created Intracoastal Waterway. The city is located in Sou ...

. He played both offensive and

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He committed to

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

to play college football.

College career

Lamp redshirted his first year at Western Kentucky in 2012. He opened the season as the starter at right guard, before shifting to left tackle for the final nine games. Lamp remained the starting left tackle throughout his college career, starting 51 games total in his career.

Professional career

Lamp received an invitation to the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

and had his stock quickly rise after a solid week of practice. He injured his ankle and was unable to play in the game. Although he played offensive tackle throughout his collegiate career, many teams speculated a switch to guard in the NFL due to his lack of arm length. He also attended the NFL Combine and completed all of the combine drills. At Western Kentucky's Pro Day, Lamp opted to only run positional drills and stood on his combine performance. NFL draft experts and analysts projected Lamp to be selected in the first round. He was ranked the top guard in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com and

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

, the top offensive lineman 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 ...

, the top interior offensive lineman by NFL media analysts

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock (born August 14, 1958) is a former American football executive and former player who served as the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019 to 2021. Mayock was a safety with ...

and

Bucky Brooks William Eldridge "Bucky" Brooks Jr. (born January 22, 1971) is a sportswriter and former professional American football player. He played for five National Football League (NFL) teams in a five-year career, primarily as a kick returner. Brooks i ...

, and the third best offensive tackle by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''.

Los Angeles Chargers

The

selected Lamp in the second round (38th overall) of the

. Lamp was the first offensive guard drafted in 2017. On May 11, the Los Angeles Chargers signed Lamp to a four-year, $6.66 million contract with $3.75 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $2.98 million. On August 2, 2017, Lamp suffered a torn ACL during training camp, and was ruled out for his entire rookie season. He was officially placed on injured reserve on September 2, 2017. On May 15, 2018, Lamp underwent a minor knee procedure, described as a routine cleanup. He entered 2018 as a backup guard to starters

Dan Feeney Daniel Feeney (born May 29, 1994) is an American football guard for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Indiana, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers in the third round of the 2017 NFL ...

and Michael Schofield. He only played in two games, and was a healthy scratch for much of the season. In 2019, Lamp played in seven games with two starts before suffering a broken fibula. He was placed on injured reserve on October 23, 2019. Lamp started all 16 games at left guard for the Chargers in 2020, leading the league with 1,174 total snaps.

Buffalo Bills

Lamp signed with 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. ...

on April 15, 2021. He was placed on injured reserve on August 23, 2021, and released two days later.

New Orleans Saints

On October 19, 2021, Lamp was signed to the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

practice squad. He re-signed with the Saints on April 1, 2022. He was placed on injured reserve on August 19, 2022. He was released on October 25.

References

External links

*
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamp, Forrest 1994 births Living people People from Venice, Florida Players of American football from Florida American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football players Los Angeles Chargers players Buffalo Bills players New Orleans Saints players Ed Block Courage Award recipients