Paul Ray Jetton (October 6, 1964 – May 13, 2016) was 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 ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

who played four 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

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 ...

and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and 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 Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

where he also threw the shot put. He was on the Bengals injured reserve list when they went to

Super Bowl XXIII Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

College football

Jetton was recruited out of

Jersey Village High School Jersey Village High School is located in Jersey Village, Texas, United States, in the Houston metropolitan area. The school, which serves grades nine through twelve, is a part of the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. Maggie Wiley serves as its principal, ...

Jersey Village, Texas Jersey Village is a city in west-central Harris County, Texas, United States, located at U.S. Highway 290, Farm to Market Road 529, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. The city is located in the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. ...

and played

at the

. He was a two-time all-conference offensive guard and a team captain. Jetton was also on the track and field team where he threw the shot put. He had several top 8 finishes, including coming in 3rd at the 1987 Southwest Conference Championships.

Professional career

Jetton was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 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 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Marq ...

and was a part of the team for four injury-plagued seasons before moving on to New Orleans. Prior to the 1988 season, he was placed on injured reserve and remained there all season as the Bengals went all the way to

. He was a starter in two games for the 1989 season, but an early season knee injury put him on the injured reserve again. His most successful season was in 1990, when he played in all 15 games and started in the Bengals final playoff game. At the start of the 1991 season, Jetton was again dealing with a knee injury, but managed to be a starter for the first half of the season, before winding up on the injured reserve list again. Following the 1991 season, Jetton became a "Plan B" free agent and was signed by the New Orleans Saints, then waived at the start of the season and then brought back after a month. He played in only two games in 1992. He began the 1993 season injured/inactive again and then saw no playing time. He died in 2016 in

Wimberley, Texas Wimberley is a village in Hays County, Texas, United States. It is still predominantly a ranching area outside of town. The population was 2,839 at the 2020 census. History Wimberley started as a trading post settlement near Cypress Creek in ...

, where he made his home.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jetton, Paul 1964 births 2016 deaths Players of American football from Houston American football offensive linemen Jersey Village High School alumni Texas Longhorns football players Cincinnati Bengals players New Orleans Saints players People from Wimberley, Texas Sportspeople from Hays County, Texas