Gerard Lawson (born January 12, 1985) 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

kickoff returner 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 positio ...

He was signed by 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 ...

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 2008. He played college football at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. He also participated in the 2007 Hula Bowl All Star game where he was awarded the Most Valuable Player Award. Lawson has also played for the

Hartford Colonials The Hartford Colonials, originally the New York Sentinels, were a professional American football team that played in the United Football League in its 2009 and 2010 seasons. A charter member of the UFL, the Sentinels began play in 2009 nominally ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

Lawson was signed to a one-year contract by the

as an

following the 2008 NFL Draft on April 28, 2008. He played in 20 games for the Browns from

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

– 2009, making five special teams tackles and four kickoff returns for 115 yards.

Hartford Colonials

Lawson played with the

of the United Football League in 2010 following his release from the Browns. He returned an interception 41 yards for a

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 ...

in his debut for the Colonials, and had 23 kickoff returns for 483 yards during the season.

Philadelphia Eagles

Lawson was signed to a three-year contract by the

on December 24, 2010, to replace Jorrick Calvin, who was placed on injured reserve. He was released on July 28, 2011.

BC Lions

Lawson was signed by the

on April 24, 2012. He was released by the Lions on June 16, 2013.

References

External links

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BC Lions bioPhiladelphia Eagles bioCleveland Browns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Gerard 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from the Las Vegas Valley Players of American football from Nevada American football cornerbacks American football return specialists Oregon State Beavers football players Cleveland Browns players Hartford Colonials players Philadelphia Eagles players BC Lions players Palo Verde High School alumni