Jerraud Powers (born July 19, 1987) 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 wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

. He played college football at Auburn and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the third round of 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. ...

. He also played for the Arizona Cardinals and

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 ...

Early years

Powers attended Decatur High School and was an all-state player
He was named All-Region his senior year and was rated as a 3-Star prospect and the #13 player in the state of Alabama by scout.com. Rivals.com rated Powers the #8 player in Alabama following his senior season.

College career

2006 season

Powers broke his foot during preseason workouts and it appeared at the time that he would have only a small chance to get on the field, but he was able to play. Powers earned playing time on special teams as a freshman. Powers recovered a critical onside kick in Auburn's 24-17 win over South Carolina Gamecocks, South Carolina. Powers also made a name for himself by blocking Eric Wilbur's third quarter punt in a home game against the eventual national champion Florida Gators. As a sophomore, Powers earned a starting spot at cornerback and played the entire season. He was selected to the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

All-Freshman Team on a pass defense that rated second in the SEC this season.

2007 season

Powers had a very successful 2007 season and received the

Zeke Smith Roger Duane "Zeke" Smith (September 29, 1936 – July 22, 2016) was an American football player in the National Football League for the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. He played college football at Auburn University where he was awarde ...

Award, presented each year to Auburn's Defensive Player of the Year. Jerraud Powers is also remembered as the cornerback covering

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

receiver

Demetrius Byrd Demetrius Byrd (born June 30, 1986) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisiana State University. Early years Byrd pla ...

on his one-handed touchdown grab with one second remaining in the 2007 Auburn-LSU game. Powers also received a lot of attention from

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

when an Auburn police dog bit his hand after a play in the 2007

Iron Bowl The Alabama–Auburn football rivalry, better known as the Iron Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between the Auburn University Tigers and University of Alabama Crimson Tide, both charter members of the Southeastern Conferen ...

. The incident prompted a review of security procedures at Auburn.

2008 season

Powers returned for his junior season with high expectations after an impressive sophomore season. His matchup against Florida's wing right

Percy Harvin William Percival Harvin III (born May 28, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Florida, when the Gators won the BCS National Championship in 2006 and 2008, and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings ...

was considered a key to the big game. Powers was impressive early in the season, leading Auburn to a shutout in the season opener. However, Powers played with an injured hamstring and struggled through much of the season. Powers was just one of many injured players on Auburn's 2008 football team, Auburn finished with a disappointing 5-7 record and missed the postseason for the first time this decade. After the season, Powers decided to forgo his senior season at Auburn and enter the

Professional career

Powers was projected to be a possible NFL draft pick. Powers was rated 14 out of 239 cornerbacks and 110 out of 2,497 total players evaluated.

Indianapolis Colts

Despite being considered a prospect for a lower round, Jerraud was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the third round. He signed with the Colts on July 28, 2009, for a 4-year contract. Powers began the 2009 season as a starter due to injuries to

Marlin Jackson Marlin Tyrell Jackson (born June 30, 1983) is a former American football player who last played for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Michigan, and was recognized as a con ...

, and went on to start 12 of 16 games for the Colts. Despite injuries to three of the Colts' projected Defensive Backfield starters, Powers (along with fellow rookie Jacob Lacey) played well enough to put the Colts' pass defense at third in the league in Yards/Attempt. Powers recorded 66 tackles and an interception. On December 7, 2010, he was placed on season-ending injury reserve due to an arm injury. In 2010, Powers played in 10 games, starting all of them. Powers had 53 tackles and 2 interceptions. On November 6, 2011, Powers had a pick six against Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons. This was his first career touchdown. The Colts lost the game 31-7.

Arizona Cardinals

On March 13, 2013, the Arizona Cardinals signed Powers to a three-year contract, reuniting him with head coach

Bruce Arians Bruce Charles Arians (born October 3, 1952) is an American football executive and former coach in the National Football League (NFL). Since 2022, he has been a senior football consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians was previously the he ...

who was his interim head coach the previous year with the Indianapolis Colts.

Baltimore Ravens

On May 13, 2016, Powers signed with the Ravens on a one-year, $1.75 million contract.

Retirement

On April 14, 2017, Powers announced his retirement from the NFL after eight seasons.

References

External links

Official websiteIndianapolis Colts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Jerraud 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Decatur, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football cornerbacks Auburn Tigers football players Indianapolis Colts players Arizona Cardinals players Baltimore Ravens players