Jeffrey Lee Yeates (born August 3, 1951) 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 lineman 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 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 ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. He was drafted in the fourth round (103rd overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft by 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. ...

Career

In 1971 Yeates was named to the

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

All-East all-star team, as well as the AP All-East all-star team. Yeates was selected in the fourth round (103rd overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft by the

. After appearing in three games for the Bills in 1976, he was

waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United St ...

, and later signed by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. In September 1977, he was waived by the Falcons. In 1978, he became a starter after

Claude Humphrey Claude B. Humphrey (June 29, 1944 – December 3, 2021) was an American professional football player who played as a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles. Humphrey was inducted into t ...

retired. In 1980, when the Falcons switched to a 3-4 defense, Yeates was a starting

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 ...

alongside

Jeff Merrow Jeffrey Colin Merrow (born July 12, 1953) is a former defensive end who played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons as a member of their famed Grits Blitz defense. He played collegiately for the West Virginia ...

. He was released by the Falcons in August 1984.

References

1951 births Living people American football defensive linemen Boston College Eagles football players Buffalo Bills players Atlanta Falcons players {{defensive-lineman-1950s-stub