Nathan Thomas Stanley (born January 24, 1989)
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 ...
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
. He was signed by the
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 ...
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 2013. He played
college football at
Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it becam ...
after transferring from the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...
.
College career
College career statistics
Professional career
Stanley signed with the
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 ...
on May 3, 2013 and was released by the team on May 7, 2013.
Stanley initially joined the
San Jose SaberCats
The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...
as a backup quarterback. Stanley became the starter, however, when original starter
Russ Michna was declared out with concussion-like symptoms.
On October 13, 2014, Stanley was signed to the practice roster of the
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...
of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
. He was released by the Stampeders on November 6, 2014.
Stanley returned to the SaberCats in 2015, where he again served as backup (this time to
Erik Meyer). An injury to Meyer forced Stanley to once again become the team's starter. He returned to the role of backup following Meyer's return. In his second season, Stanley threw a total of twenty touchdown passes (and no interceptions) while winning every game in which he started.
Stanley's SaberCats ultimately advanced to
ArenaBowl XXVIII
ArenaBowl XXVIII was the championship game of the 2015 Arena Football League season. It was played between the American Conference Champion Jacksonville Sharks and the National Conference Champion San Jose SaberCats. The game was played at Stock ...
, where they defeated the
Jacksonville Sharks
The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...
68-47. In the fourth quarter, Stanley was briefly inserted as quarterback for the SaberCats; his lone pass attempt was caught for a touchdown. Stanley became the fourth SaberCats quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in an ArenaBowl (following
John Dutton,
Mark Grieb
Mark Richard Grieb (born May 23, 1974) is a former Arena football quarterback who spent the majority of his career with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League (AFL). Grieb currently serves as the head coach of the Sacred Heart Prep G ...
, and 2015 teammate
Erik Meyer).
On November 9, 2015, Stanley was assigned to the
Los Angeles KISS.
On October 14, 2016, Stanley was assigned to the
Washington Valor
The Washington Valor were a professional arena football team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Capital One Arena. The Valor were owned by Monumental Sports ...
during the dispersal draft. On March 21, 2017, he was placed on refuse to report.
AFL statistics
''Stats from ArenaFan'':
References
External links
Southeastern Louisiana bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Nathan
1989 births
Living people
American football quarterbacks
Canadian football quarterbacks
American players of Canadian football
Ole Miss Rebels football players
Southeastern Louisiana Lions football players
San Jose SaberCats players
Calgary Stampeders players
Los Angeles Kiss players
Washington Valor players
Players of American football from Oklahoma
People from Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Baltimore Ravens players