Nicholas Eason (born May 29, 1980) 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 ...

coach and former

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 ...

who is currently the defensive tackles coach and run game coordinator at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

. He previously served as an assistant coach for the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

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 ...

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 ( ...

. Eason 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 Clemson and was drafted by 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 ...

in the fourth round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

and would play for 11 seasons in 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) with the Broncos, Cleveland Browns,

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

, and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

. Eason also previously played for the Scottish Claymores. Against the Cardinals, Eason won

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

with the Steelers.

Playing career

College

Eason played

at Clemson. He played in 47 games starting in 35 and finished his career with 153 tackles and 15 sacks. He graduated from Clemson in August 2001 with a degree in sociology and is currently working on his master's degree in Human Resource Development.

National Football League

Denver Broncos and Scottish Claymores

Eason was originally drafted in the 4th round (114th overall) of the 2003 draft by the

. His first season was ended by an Achilles injury. In 2004, he was allocated to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

and played for the Scottish Claymores. On returning, he spent some time on the practice squad before being waived on September 24, 2004.

Cleveland Browns

Eason was signed by the

on 11 November 2004 and played in one game recording two tackles. The 2005 season was his first full season with the Browns and he played in 16 games recording 19 tackles and a career high two sacks. In 2006, Eason recorded 23 tackles from 13 games.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Eason signed with the

as an unrestricted free agent on April 16, 2007. In his first season with the team, he played in all 16 games and recorded 14 tackles. In 2008, the Steelers resigned Eason to a 2-year contract. Eason was released on October 3, 2009 after the Steelers signed

Isaac Redman Isaac Redman (born November 10, 1984) is a former American football running back. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland. Early years Re ...

from their

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

, then re-signed when Redman was waived on October 5. Eason was promoted to the main roster and started in place of the injured defensive end

Brett Keisel Brett Keisel (born September 19, 1978) is a former American football defensive end who played 12 seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college footba ...

. In week 17, the final game of the regular season, he had 4 tackles (including a critical tackle for a 3-yard loss on

Ricky Williams Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977) is an American former football running back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). After playing baseball an ...

) against the Dolphins.

Arizona Cardinals

Eason was signed by the Arizona Cardinals on July 29, 2011.

Coaching career

Cleveland Browns

In 2013, Eason began his coaching career with the

as their assistant defensive line coach under head coach

Rob Chudzinski Robert Matthew Chudzinski (born May 12, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the special assistant to the head coach of the Boston College Eagles. Chudzinski was the offensive coordinator for several National Football League (N ...

Tennessee Titans

In 2014, Eason was hired by the

as their defensive line coach under head

Ken Whisenhunt Kenneth Moore Whisenhunt (born February 28, 1962) is an American football coach and former tight end who is currently an offensive analyst for Penn State. He played college football at Georgia Tech and was drafted in the twelfth round of the 198 ...

. In 2016, he was retained under the Titans new head coach

Mike Mularkey Michael Rene Mularkey (born November 19, 1961) is a former American football coach and tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Florida, and was drafted in the ninth round of the 1983 NF ...

Cincinnati Bengals

On February 26, 2019 Eason was hired by the

as their defensive line coach under head coach

Zac Taylor Zachary William Taylor (born May 10, 1983) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Beginning his NFL career as an offensive assistant, he was the quarterbacks coach f ...

. Eason missed the team's weeks 12 and 13 games in 2020 against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

protocols.

Auburn University

On January 27, 2021, Eason joined

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

as their defensive line coach under head coach

Bryan Harsin Bryan Dale Harsin (born November 1, 1976) is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach at Auburn University. Prior to leading the Auburn Tigers, he coached the Boise State University Broncos from the 2014 ...

, replacing

Tracy Rocker Tracy Quinton Rocker (born April 9, 1966) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). Rocker played college football at Auburn University ...

Clemson University

On January 7, 2022, Eason was hired by his alma mater,

, as their defensive tackles coach and run game coordinator under head coach

Dabo Swinney William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney (; born November 20, 1969) is an American football coach, currently serving as the head coach at Clemson University. Swinney took over midway through the 2008 season, following the resignation of Tommy Bowden. S ...

, replacing Todd Bates.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers profile

Cincinnati Bengals profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eason, Nick 1980 births Living people Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Lyons, Georgia African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Clemson Tigers football coaches Clemson Tigers football players Denver Broncos players Scottish Claymores players Cleveland Browns players Pittsburgh Steelers players Arizona Cardinals players Auburn Tigers football coaches Cincinnati Bengals coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Tennessee Titans coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people Ed Block Courage Award recipients