Patrick Michael Laird (born August 17, 1995) 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 wi ...

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

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) South division. The cl ...

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 at

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Early years

Laird attended

Mission College Preparatory High School Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School is a private Roman Catholic high school in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey. Remodelings and additions In 2004, Mission College ...

in San Luis Obispo, California. As a senior, he rushed for 3,117 yards and 32 touchdowns on 408 carries for an average of 7.6 yards per rush.

College career

Laird began his college career for the California Golden Bears in 2014 as a walk-on. He redshirted his second year at California in 2015. In his second year of eligibility in 2016, he received second-team Pac-12 All-Academic honors.

2017 season

As a junior in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, he played in 11 games and rushed 191 times for 1,127 yards and 8 touchdowns. He is the sixteenth player in Cal history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season. Laird's 214 yards rushing against

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

in 2017 ranks tenth in program history for rushing yards in a single game. He received first-team Pac-12 All-Academic honors, All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, and was named a semifinalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded annually to the nation’s most outstanding college football player who began his career as a walk-on.

2018 season

As a senior in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, he played in 11 games and rushed 197 times for 816 yards and 5 touchdowns. Laird was a Finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy and the Senior CLASS Award. He was also named a semi-finalist for the Campbell Trophy. While at California, Laird began a summer reading program, inspiring over 1,000 elementary school students to read at least four books a summer.

Statistics

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Laird went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft, and signed with the

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 p ...

as an undrafted free agent. Laird gained the nickname "The Intern" after he was mistaken for being an intern during training camp. Laird scored his first career touchdown in a 37–31 upset over 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 play ...

in Week 13. Overall, Laird finished the 2019 season with 62 carries for 168 yards and one touchdown to go along with 23 receptions for 204 yards. On August 31, 2021, Laird was waived by the Dolphins and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on October 30, 2021. He was placed on injured reserve on December 8, 2021.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On August 15, 2022, Laird signed with the

. He was waived on August 30, 2022, and signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 17, 2023. On August 29, 2023, Laird was released by the Buccaneers and re-signed to the practice squad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laird, Patrick 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from San Luis Obispo, California Players of American football from San Luis Obispo County, California American football running backs California Golden Bears football players Miami Dolphins players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players