Jesper Horsted (born February 27, 1997) 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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

for the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...

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 played college football at

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

College career

Horsted played wide receiver for the

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in ...

for four seasons. As a junior, he set school records with 92 receptions and 14 receiving touchdowns with 1,226 yards and was named first-team All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

. He caught 72 passes for 1,047 yards with 13 touchdowns in his senior season and was again named first-team All-Ivy. He finished his collegiate career as the schools all-time leader with 196 receptions and 28 receiving touchdowns and second with 2,703 receiving yards. Horsted also was a member of the Princeton baseball team. He hit .324 with seven doubles and 14 RBIs in 36 games as a junior and batted .312 in 104 games over three seasons.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Horsted signed with the Chicago Bears 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 May 13, 2019. He was cut at the end of training camp, but was re-signed to the Bears' practice squad on September 1, 2019. Horsted was promoted to the Bears active roster on November 20. He made his NFL debut on November 24 against the New York Giants, catching one pass for four yards. Four days later against the Detroit Lions, he was named starting tight end as injuries plagued his teammates. In the third quarter, he scored his first NFL touchdown on an 18-yard reception from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky; the score tied the game at 17 apiece, and the Bears went on to win 24–20. Horsted finished his rookie season with eight receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown in six games played. Horsted was among the final roster cuts on September 5, 2020, and was placed on the practice squad a day later. On January 11, 2021, Horsted signed a reserve/futures contract with the Bears, and spent season on the Bears' practice squad. On August 28, 2021, Horsted caught three touchdown passes in the Bears' preseason finale against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

. Horsted secured a spot on the Bears 53-man roster for the 2021 season. On October 10th, 2021, Horsted caught a 2-yard touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders from

Justin Fields Justin Skyler Fields (born March 5, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Georgia, he played college football at Ohio State, where he twice won Graham–G ...

, marking Fields’ first career passing touchdown in the NFL. On May 11, 2022, Horsted was waived following a failed physical.

Las Vegas Raiders

Horsted signed with the

as a

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 June 7, 2022.

References

External links

Princeton Tigers bioLas Vegas Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsted, Jesper 1997 births Living people American football tight ends Las Vegas Raiders players People from Shoreview, Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota Princeton Tigers baseball players Princeton Tigers football players Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area Roseville Area High School alumni