Jordan Shea Rashad Norwood (born September 29, 1986) is a Filipino-American former professional

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 ...

wide receiver and

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

who played eight seasons in the NFL. He was signed by 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 ( ...

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 ...

in 2009. 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 ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

. Norwood was also a member of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. Norwood is the son of Navy co-defensive coordinator and former Penn State secondary coach

Brian Norwood Brian Norwood (born August 12, 1965) is an American football coach. He currently serves as defensive backs coach, assistant head coach, and defensive passing game coordinator at UCLA Bruins football, UCLA. Prior to that, he most recently was the c ...

College career

Norwood was lightly recruited out of

State College Area High School State College Area High School, often referred to locally as "State High," is a public high school in State College, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only public high school in the State College Area School District and is within walking d ...

. He received few scholarship offers and accepted Penn State's last minute offer over an offer from Bucknell to play football and basketball. His leadership and jumping skills on the basketball court was what led coach

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

to offer him a football scholarship. In 2005, his freshman season, Norwood caught 32 passes for 422 yards with a 13.2 yard average. Norwood's sophomore season concluded with him making the Dean's List and being named to the Academic All-Big Ten team. He caught 45 passes for 472 yards and 2 touchdowns with a 10.5 yard average. He joined the basketball team under Ed DeChellis in January, practicing regularly and appearing in four games as a reserve guard in his only season playing basketball. In his junior season, Jordan caught 40 balls for 484 yards and 5 touchdowns with a 12.1 yard average including catching a touchdown pass lying down on the ground versus Buffalo. He had a season high 8 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown in a 36-31 win over Indiana. Norwood earned all-Big Ten honorable mention honors as a senior, after catching 41 passes for 637 yards and six touchdowns. Norwood's eight-catch, 116-yard performance versus Oregon State on September 6, 2008 moved him past

O. J. McDuffie Otis James McDuffie (born December 2, 1969) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football for Penn State University, a ...

into third place on Penn State's career reception list. Afterward, he was congratulated in person by McDuffie, who attended the game. Norwood had a second consecutive 100 plus yard game on September 13, 2008 against the Syracuse Orange. He had 5 receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Before the game against Illinois, Norwood injured his hamstring and didn't participate in the games against the Illini and the Boilermakers.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Norwood was invited to the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine where he measured a 38-inch vertical jump (sixth among wide receivers at the combine), ran 6.80 in the

3 cone drill The three-cone drill, 3-cone drill or L-drill is a test performed by American football players. It is primarily run to evaluate the agility, quickness and fluidity of movement of players by Scout (sport), scouts. It is most commonly seen at the N ...

(ninth among wide receivers at the combine), and 4.20 in the

20-yard shuttle The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footba ...

(ninth among wide receivers at the combine).

Cleveland Browns

After being undrafted in the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, Norwood signed with the

as an

on May 1, 2009. He was waived by the Browns during final roster cuts on September 5, 2009.

Philadelphia Eagles

On September 23, 2009, Norwood was signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. He was promoted to the active roster on December 1, 2009. He was waived on December 7. On December 9, he was re-signed to their practice squad. He was re-signed to a three-year contract on January 11, 2010. On March 18, Norwood changed his number from 84 to 19 after

Hank Baskett Henry Randall Baskett III (born September 4, 1982) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts. A native of Clovis, New Mexico, Ba ...

was re-signed by the Eagles and took number 84 back. Norwood was waived on September 4.

Cleveland Browns (second stint)

Norwood was signed to the

' practice squad on September 6, 2010. He was promoted to the active roster before Week 13 of the 2010 season. He was waived on August 25, 2013.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On August 28, 2013, Norwood signed with the Buccaneers. On August 31, 2013, he was cut by the Buccaneers.

Denver Broncos

Norwood signed with the

during the 2014 offseason. The Broncos placed Norwood on injured reserve on August 25, 2014 after he tore his ACL. On February 7, 2016, Norwood was part of the Broncos team that won Super Bowl 50. In the game, the Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers by a score of 24–10. In the game, Norwood set a Super Bowl record for the longest punt return at 61 yards. The return set up a field goal that put the Broncos up 13–7. On March 23, 2016, Norwood signed a one-year contract with the

after drawing interest from the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Retirement

On September 10, 2017, Norwood announced his retirement from the NFL.

Personal life

Norwood earned a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising/Public Relations from Penn State in 2008. Jordan has two younger brothers, Zaccariah and Levi, a younger sister Brianna, and an older brother, Gabe, who is a former member of the

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

basketball team that advanced to the 2006 NCAA Final Four and is currently playing for the Philippine National basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, and the

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association owned by Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc. It debuted in the league in the 2006–07 PBA season after acquiring the franchise righ ...

in the Philippine Basketball Association. Levi played football for Baylor University. Norwood was married on June 20, 2015 to Aleah Tebben. The couple had their first child, a girl named Franni Grace, on November 4, 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norwood, Jordan 1986 births Living people American football return specialists American football wide receivers American sportspeople of Filipino descent Cleveland Browns players Denver Broncos players Penn State Nittany Lions basketball players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Philadelphia Eagles players People from State College, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Honolulu Tampa Bay Buccaneers players American men's basketball players