Matthew Jason Russell (born July 5, 1973) 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 ...

executive who currently serves as a Senior Personnel Executive 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 ...

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 ...

. He formerly served as the Director of Player Personnel for the

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 ...

of the

(NFL). Russell also was a former American college and 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 ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

(NFL) for a single season. 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 ...

for the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, earned All-American honors and won the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in America. He played professionally for the NFL's

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 ...

from 1997-1999.

Early years

Russell was born in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
Matt Russell
Retrieved February 2, 2012. He lived in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and various parts of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a child. He attended

Belleville High School-East Belleville High School East is a public high school in Belleville, Illinois, United States. It is part of Belleville Township High School District. It was established in 1966. History Prior to 1966, Belleville Township School District operate ...

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city and the county seat of St. Clair County, Illinois, coterminous with the now defunct Belleville Township. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The p ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
Matt Russell
. Retrieved February 2, 2012. and played for the Belleville East Lancers

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 ...

team.

College career

Russell attended the

, where he started at linebacker for the Colorado Buffaloes football team from 1993 to 1996. He finished his collegiate career ranked first in school history in unassisted tackles (282) and second in total tackles (446). He received all-conference honors during each of his final two seasons with the Buffaloes. As a senior in 1996, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and won the Butkus Award as the nation's best college linebacker after posting a career-high 137 tackles. He was selected as a member of CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2012.

Professional career

The Detroit Lions selected Russell in the fourth round (130th pick overall) of the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

, and he played in fourteen regular season games for the Lions in and earned all-rookie honors along his college teammate Rae Carruth.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Matt Russell
Retrieved February 2, 2012. He was expected to compete for a starting linebacker position with Stephen Boyd following the departure of Pepper Johnson. In , Russell injured his knee during the opening kickoff of the first preseason game against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, and was lost for the season to

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

. He had also suffered a season ending knee injury the year before. Knee injuries eventually forced him to retire after the 1999 season.

Post-playing career

Russell spent the 2000 season as a graduate assistant coach for

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, helping to instruct the Buffaloes’ linebackers. While a member of the Detroit Lions, Russell befriended Lions scout Tom Dimitroff, who later worked for the Patriots and hired Russell as a scout for the Patriots in December 2000.

New England Patriots

Russell served as a scout for the club during the 2001 season and worked as an area scout for the team from 2003-05. Russell is credited for persuading Scott Pioli and the New England Patriots to draft Matt Cassel.

Philadelphia Eagles

Russell was hired by the Eagles in 2006 as a scout. He spent the 2008 season as the national scout for the Eagles after scouting the Western region for the club from 2006-07.

Denver Broncos

Russell was hired by the Broncos in 2009 as Director of College Scouting, and was promoted to Director of Player Personnel in January 2012. As director of player personnel, Russell is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the pro personnel and college scouting departments for the Broncos. Since his ascension to director of player personnel in 2012, the Broncos overhauled the majority of their roster, developing depth and competition through free agency and the draft. Denver posted the third-most regular-season wins (64) in the NFL from 2012–17, while capturing four AFC West Division titles, two AFC Championships and a victory in Super Bowl 50. On July 6, 2013, while celebrating his 40th birthday, Russell was arrested for DUI. He was suspended indefinitely without pay by the Broncos, but was reinstated after 60 days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Matt 1975 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers Colorado Buffaloes football players Detroit Lions players New England Patriots scouts