Kyler Gordon (born December 17, 1999) 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 with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

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 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 ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and was drafted by the Bears in the second round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

Early life

Gordon became a ballet dancer at a young age, and has used it to his advantage. Gordon's rare balance and jumping, as showcased at the

NFL Combine 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 ...

, helped him become an early 2nd round draft pick many years later.

Ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

is more of a hobby for him now as he moves to professional football, but he still credits ballet for a lot of his football success.

High school career

Gordon attended

Archbishop Murphy High School Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School is a co-educational private Roman Catholic Church, Catholic college-preparatory high school located in Everett, Washington, United States. Founded as Holy Cross High School in 1988 at the old site of Our Lad ...

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

. He played cornerback and wide receiver in high school. He committed to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

to play college football.

College career

Gordon played in four games his first year at Washington in 2018 and was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

. In 2019, he started four of 13 games, recording 32 tackles. In 2020, he started one of four games and had 18 tackles. Gordon became a full-time starter in 2021. On January 5, 2022, Gordon declared for the

Professional career

Gordon was drafted by the

with the 39th overall pick in the second round of the

. On October 24, in a Week 7 game against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, Gordon recorded his first career interception off of Patriots quarterback

Bailey Zappe Bailey Michael Zappe (, ) (born April 26, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football at Houston Baptist and used his last y ...

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioWashington Huskies bio
Living people People from Mukilteo, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) Sportspeople from the Seattle metropolitan area American football cornerbacks Washington Huskies football players 1999 births Chicago Bears players {{defensiveback-1990s-stub