James Crawford (born December 2, 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 wi ...

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 formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

who is currently a free agent. He played college football at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, and signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in the

2018 NFL season The 2018 NFL season was the 99th season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 53rd of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 6, 2018, with the NFL Kickoff Game with defending Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia defeating ...

before being waived. The

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

signed Crawford for the

2019 NFL season The 2019 NFL season was the 100th season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 54th of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 5, 2019, with the NFL Kickoff Game, in which Green Bay defeated Chicago. The season concluded ...

, but released him before the 2020 NFL season after an injury-shortened tenure. The

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

signed Crawford to their practice squad in December 2020, and released him in January 2021.

College career

After redshirting his freshman season, Crawford played four seasons for the

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

. Crawford recorded starts on all three levels of the defense throughout his college career. He played safety, linebacker and defensive end over the course of four years. He recorded 80 tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss, four sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and six passes defensed over the course of his college career. Crawford who won team MVP, served as a team captain as a senior and was named All-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Crawford, signed with the Green Bay Packers 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 ...

on August 8, 2018. He made the Packers 53-man roster out of training camp after originally entering as a long shot to make the team, in part because he did not join the team until ten days after camp began. Crawford made his NFL debut during the Packers season opener against the Chicago Bears. Crawford was named the Packers' captain on special teams three times, including the team's final game of the season against the Detroit Lions. Crawford played in all 16 of the Packers games during his rookie season, making nine tackles and recovering a fumble. After initially making the 53 man roster out of training camp, Crawford was waived by the Packers on September 2, 2019.

Miami Dolphins

Crawford was claimed off waivers by the

on September 3, 2019. He was placed on injured reserve on September 26, 2019 after playing in three games, making one tackle. Crawford was waived on August 31, 2020.

Baltimore Ravens

On December 23, 2020, Crawford signed with the practice squad of the

, and was released on January 5, 2021.

Philadelphia Stars

Crawford joined the practice squad of the Philadelphia Stars, playing in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

, on April 16, 2022. He was transferred to the active roster on April 22.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Packers bioIllinois bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, James 1994 births Living people People from Deerfield Beach, Florida Players of American football from Broward County, Florida Crawford, James American football linebackers Illinois Fighting Illini football players Green Bay Packers players Miami Dolphins players Baltimore Ravens players Philadelphia Stars (2022) players