Jeff Howard (born January 13, 1983) 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 ...

coach who is the defensive backs coach for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Playing career

Howard played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for

Eastern New Mexico Eastern New Mexico is a physiographic subregion within the U.S. state of New Mexico. The region is sometimes called the "High Plains," or "Eastern Plains (of New Mexico)," and was historically referred to as part of the "Great American Desert". The ...

from 2001–2004 and was a 4-time Academic All-Lone Star Conference member. Howard earned 1st Team All-Lone Star Conference honors as a linebacker (LB) in 2003–2004 while capping his career by being named a 2004 AFCA Division II All-American and graduating

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

with a degree in biology and chemistry. Howard had his jersey retired by Eastern New Mexico in 2006 and entered ENMU Hall of Honor in 2011.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Howard transitioned from his on-field playing days to coaching at Odessa Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. Howard was on staff from 2007–2010, during which he assisted the

defensive backs In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and LBs before becoming the defensive coordinator in 2009–2010. Howard was on the

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

staff from 2011–2012, he started in the summer of 2011 as an offensive assistant working with the offensive line position then moving to the defensive side of the ball to serve in the defensive quality control role for the 2011 season and coaching the safety position in 2012.

Minnesota Vikings

Howard joined the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

for the

NFL 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 major ...

season as assistant to the head coach,

Brad Childress Bradley Childress (born June 27, 1956) is a former American football coach. He worked for over 40 years as a coach for various college programs and National Football League (NFL) franchises. He was the offensive coordinator for Wisconsin from 19 ...

. In he was promoted to defensive assistant and continued at the defensive assistant-linebackser in and assistant defensive backs in for the season.

Cleveland Browns

On January 29, 2020, 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 ( ...

announced that Howard would be joining their team under

Head Coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Kevin Stefanski Kevin Lawrence Stefanski (born May 8, 1982) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2006 to ...

as the team's defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator. Howard missed the team's wild card playoff game against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

on January 10, 2021, due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

protocols.

Los Angeles Chargers

On February 11, 2023, the Los Angeles Chargers hired Howard as their linebackers coach.

Seattle Seahawks

In February 2024, he was hired as the defensive backs coach for the Seahawks.

References

External links

*
Jeff Howard Bio on Pro Football History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Jeff Living people 1983 births American football linebackers Cleveland Browns coaches Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds football players High school football coaches in Texas Los Angeles Chargers coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches