Mike James (born April 13, 1991) 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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who played for the

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

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 ...

. James was selected in the 6th round (189th overall) of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in ...

by the Buccaneers. 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 ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

Early years

James attended Ridge Community High School in

Davenport, Florida Davenport is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,040 at the 2020 census. While the city of Davenport itself is very small, the area north of the city close to Interstate 4 and US 27 is experiencing explosive growth ...

, where he played for the Bolts football team. He was selected to

The Ledger ''The Ledger'' is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida, and the Polk County area. The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as the ''Lakeland Evening Ledger''. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning ''Lakeland Star-Telegram ...

's all-county first-team as a running back and to the

Mobile Press-Register The ''Press-Register'' (known from 1997 to 2006 as the ''Mobile Register'') is a thrice-weekly newspaper serving the southwest Alabama counties of Mobile and Baldwin. The newspaper is a descendant of one founded in 1813, making the ''Press-Regi ...

's Super Southeast 120. He was also a Florida Sports Writers Association All-State honorable mention. Coming out of high school he was ranked as the 18th-best running back prospect by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

, the 21st-best by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, and the 33rd-best by ESPN.com.

College career

James attended the

, where he played four seasons for the Hurricanes football team. During his collegiate career he rushed for 1,386 yards on 312 carries with 17 touchdowns, while also recording 585 receiving yards and 5 reception TD's. During the 2010 and 2011 seasons, he played mainly as a backup for

Damien Berry Damien Berry (born October 21, 1989) is a former American football running back. He played college football at the University of Miami, where he was the team's leading rusher in 2010 and a second-team All- ACC selection. He was signed by the Rave ...

and Lamar Miller. During the 2012 season, he and

Duke Johnson Randy "Duke" Johnson Jr. (born September 23, 1993) is an American football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round (77th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. ...

shared playing time. As a senior he was honored with the Community Service Man of the Year Award, Captain's Award, Melching Leadership Award, and was named Jack Harding Team Most Valuable Player.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

James was selected by the

in the sixth round (189th overall) of the

. On May 13, 2013, he signed a four-year deal worth $2,263,152 which also included a $103,152 signing bonus. During his rookie season he rushed for 295 yards on 60 carries, including a 158-yard game against Seattle during week 9. His season ended the following week against Miami when he broke his ankle on a goal-line run. During the 2014 season James rushed for 37 yards in 11 games played. The next year he was released by the Buccaneers on September 29, then signed to the practice squad on October 1, and promoted to the active roster on December 26, 2015. He did not play in any games during the 2015 season. James was waived by the Buccaneers on September 7, 2016, following an injury.

Detroit Lions

On October 3, 2016, the

signed James to their practice squad. He was released on October 25, 2016.

Tampa Buccaneers (second stint)

On November 1, 2016, James was re-signed by the Buccaneers. He played in four games before being waived on November 29.

Detroit Lions (second stint)

On December 3, 2016, James was re-signed to the Lions practice squad. He signed a reserve / future contract with the Lions on January 9, 2017. On August 15, 2017, the Lions placed James on injured reserve with a concussion.

Cannabis use and advocacy

James is an advocate for the medical use of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

, which he says can help reduce addiction to

opioid Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid us ...

s among NFL players. James says cannabis helped him overcome his own painkiller addiction while recovering from a severe ankle injury sustained in 2013. In 2018, after failing a

drug test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of drug ...

the previous year, James filed a

therapeutic use exemption A therapeutic use exemption (TUE), also known as a temporary use exemption, is a term created in 1991 and refers to an official medical document. The document gives an athlete permission to take a medication listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency ...

(TUE) with the NFL to allow him to use cannabis. The petition was later denied, but James' attorney said that discussion with league officials was ongoing. James was featured in the

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

documentary ''Weed 4'' discussing his use of cannabis as an alternate pain reliever and his push for the NFL to allow its use. James is also a co-chair of the Doctors for Cannabis Regulation NFL steering committee.

References

External links

*
Lions bio

Buccaneers bio

Hurricanes bio

Draft profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Mike 1991 births Living people People from Haines City, Florida Players of American football from Florida Sportspeople from Polk County, Florida American football running backs Miami Hurricanes football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Detroit Lions players American cannabis activists