Juqua Demail Parker (;

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

Thomas; born May 15, 1978) 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 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 ...

. He was signed by 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 h ...

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 2001. 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 ...

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Aldine High School Aldine Senior High School is a public high school located in the Greenspoint, Houston, Greenspoint district of northern Houston, Texas, United States. It is part of the Aldine Independent School District. The senior high school campus serves grade ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Parker has also played for 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 ...

and

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 ( ...

College career

Parker originally attended

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

where he posted 29 sacks in two seasons and was named Southwestern Junior College Conference Player of the Year. He then transferred to Oklahoma State, earning third-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

honors and playing in the

East-West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

his senior year after posting 57 tackles, five PBUs, and a team-leading 21 TFLs & 9.5 sacks.

Professional career

Tennessee Titans

Parker signed with the

as a rookie free agent in 2001 and spent four years as a backup.

Philadelphia Eagles

Parker was signed by the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

to serve a similar role, and he recorded six sacks in 2006 following an injury to starter

Jevon Kearse Jevon Kearse (born September 3, 1976), nicknamed "the Freak", is a former American football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons during the late 1990s and 2000s. Kearse played college football f ...

. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Parker signed a long-term contract to remain with the team. Midway through the 2007 season he was elevated to the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are ''substitutes'' o ...

to replace an ineffective Kearse and was the team's starting left

. He made a career-high eight sacks in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Parker lost his starting job to 2010 first-round draft pick

Brandon Graham Brandon Lee Graham (born April 3, 1988) is an American football defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Eagles in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft with the thirteenth selection ...

midway through the 2010 preseason, however, in the first three games of the season, Parker, in his limited playing time, recorded four sacks. In 2011, in week 1 against the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, Parker had a fumble off of Rams quarterback

Sam Bradford Samuel Jacob Bradford (born November 8, 1987) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, most notably with the St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings. He was also a member of the P ...

and returned for a touchdown. In week 15 against 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 ...

, Parker had another fumble returned for a touchdown after Eagles free safety

Kurt Coleman Kurt Coleman (born July 1, 1988) is a former American football safety. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the seventh round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ohio State. Early years Coleman graduated from Northmo ...

stripped the ball from Jets wide receiver

Santonio Holmes Santonio Holmes Jr. (born March 3, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft after playing college football at Ohio State University. In 2009, Holmes w ...

Cleveland Browns

Parker signed with the Cleveland Browns on March 15, 2012.

Personal life

Name change

On March 12, 2008, it was revealed that Juqua's last name had legally been changed from Thomas to Parker at the request of his father, who died in 2005.

Arrest

On August 5, 2009, Parker was taken into custody during a traffic stop around 12:30 a.m. on N. Mountain Drive at Route 378 in

Lower Saucon Township, Pennsylvania Lower Saucon Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township's population was 10,772 as of the 2010 census. The township is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and ...

, which is near the Eagles' training camp at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

. Lower Saucon Township police said Parker was a passenger in a vehicle, driven by Eagles' teammate

Todd Herremans Todd Herremans (born October 13, 1982) is a former American football offensive guard who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Herremans was selected in the fourth round (126th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia ...

, which was stopped for a traffic violation, and he had a small amount of marijuana in his possession. Parker, of

Medford, New Jersey Medford is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 24,497, an increase of 1,464 (+6.4%) from the 2010 census count of 23,033,Northampton County Prison under $1,000 bail. The charges were dropped after the district attorney ruled that the arresting officer had no right to search the car.

References

External links

Cleveland Browns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Juqua 1978 births Living people People from Houston Players of American football from Texas American football defensive ends Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Tennessee Titans players Philadelphia Eagles players Cleveland Browns players Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen football players