Jacques E. Cesaire (born August 30, 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 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 ...

and coach is the defensive line coach 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 spent all nine years in the

with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Early years

A native of Gardner and of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an descent, Cesaire started his high school

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

career in 1994 at nearby St. Bernard's High School in Fitchburg. However, he transferred to

Gardner High School Gardner High School is a public high school in Gardner, Massachusetts. History Gardner High School was established in 1872, with the first graduating class being the Class of 1876. In 1897, a school building was designed by the architecture firm ...

in 1996, and graduated there two years later. At Gardner, Cesaire

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

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 events ...

. Cesaire played football at

Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is g ...

from 1998 to 2002. In his final year, he was named the

Northeast-10 Conference The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of ...

Defensive Lineman of the Year and was selected to the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

All-America team by the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

(AFCA). He also played in the

Cactus Bowl The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...

Professional career

In 2003, Cesaire was signed by the

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 ...

. He was one of many successful undrafted Chargers players that year, along with Stephen Cooper,

Kris Dielman Kristopher M. Dielman (born February 3, 1981) is an American former professional football player who was a guard for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He played college football for Indiana Univers ...

Antonio Gates Antonio Ethan Gates Sr. (born June 18, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers during his entire career in the National Football League (NFL). He was named to the Pro ...

, and

Kassim Osgood Kassim Alexandre Osgood (; born May 20, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and special teamer in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for San Diego State University and C ...

. Cesaire's best years came between 2006 and 2008, when he totaled 8.5 sacks while playing a key role in the Chargers' defense. During these years, he was considered to be a significant team leader. Cesaire was released on August 31, 2012, after nine seasons with the Chargers. In total, he started 66 games, recorded 220 tackles, and tallied 12.5 sacks. On January 21, 2013, Cesaire announced his retirement. He spent his entire NFL career with the Chargers, winning five

AFC West The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las ...

titles and reaching the

AFC Championship Game The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

during the 2007-08 playoffs.

Coaching career

After a year working as a

sports analyst A sports analyst is a person looking through technical, tactical, physiological, and psychological performance metrics /sup> working with the sports coach and sports science team to improve athlete performance. They will often use Video motion an ...

for local

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

in the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

area, Cesaire began his coaching career in

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 ...

with the Toreros of the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

in 2015. He was the assistant defensive line coach under

Dale Lindsey Phillip Dale Lindsey (born January 18, 1943) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of San Diego. Lindsey has also worked as a coach in the National Football League (NFL), the Canadian Fo ...

until 2019. The team won the

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member s ...

in each year Cesaire coached there. On February 7, 2020, Cesaire was hired as the assistant defensive line coach, under

Sean McDermott Sean Michael McDermott (born March 21, 1974) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, ...

, for 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. ...

. The Bills won the

AFC East The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). There are currently four teams that reside in the d ...

title while he coached there. On February 21, 2022, two weeks after the hiring of

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 to 2016, he served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a ...

, Cesaire was hired as the defensive line coach for the

Personal life

Cesaire is married to Jill Murray, a fellow Southern Connecticut alum, with whom he has three children: Viviana, Desmond, and Cassius.

References

External links