Russell Bodine (born June 30, 1992) 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 ...

center who is a

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 ...

. He was drafted by 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 ...

in the fourth round of the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

. 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 ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

High school career

A native of Scottsville, Virginia, Bodine attended Fork Union Military Academy, where he was named first-team all-state at the highest of three private school divisions for two straight seasons. He was teammates with

Morgan Moses Morgan Moses (born March 3, 1991) is an American football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the third round of th ...

Austin Pasztor Austin William Pasztor (born November 26, 1990) is a former Canadian professional American football offensive tackle. He played college football at Virginia and was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Early year ...

, Terrance West, and

Carlos Hyde Carlos Dawon Hyde (born September 20, 1990) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Ohio State University and was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Hig ...

. Regarded as a three-star recruit 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 ...

'', Bodine was listed as the No. 8 center prospect in his class.

College career

As a sophomore, Bodine started all 12 games at center, having eventual NFL players

Travis Bond Travis Bond (born December 10, 1990) is a former Gridiron football offensive lineman. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina. He has also played for the Carolina Panthers, St. Lo ...

and

Jonathan Cooper Jonathan Javell Cooper (born January 19, 1990) is a former American football guard. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals seventh overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina, where he earned All-American honor ...

lined up on each side of him. Russell Bodine 2013

As a junior, he primarily played center again, but also was moved along the offensive line. On December 30, 2013, he announced his decision to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the

Professional career

Bodine registered 42 repetitions in the

bench press The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...

, for best in his class.

Cincinnati Bengals

The

selected Bodine in the fourth round (111th overall) of the

. He was the fifth center and 13th interior offensive linemen selected in 2014. On May 23, 2014, the Cincinnati Bengals signed Bodine to a four-year, $2.67 million contract that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $456,456. Throughout training camp, Bodine competed against Trevor Robinson for the job as the starting center after it was left vacant after the departure of

Kyle Cook David Kyle Cook (born August 29, 1975) is an American musician best known as a member of the band Matchbox Twenty, serving as the lead guitarist, banjo player, backing and occasional lead vocalist. Career Matchbox Twenty Kyle Cook joined Mat ...

. He received first-team reps at center from the beginning of training camp and was officially named the starter by head coach

Marvin Lewis Marvin Ronald Lewis (born September 23, 1958) is an American football coach who is the special advisor to the head coach at Arizona State. Previously, Lewis was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for 1 ...

to start the regular season. He made his first career start and made his professional regular season debut in the Cincinnati Bengals' season-opening 23–16 victory over 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 its ...

. He started all 16 regular season games as the

went 10-5-1 and made the AFC playoffs. In his first four years in Cincinnati, Bodine started all 16 games at center in each season for the Bengals.

Buffalo Bills

On March 19, 2018, Bodine signed a two-year contract with the

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

. He was named the backup center to start the 2018 season behind Ryan Groy. He took over the starting role in Week 3 following struggles from Groy. He started the next 10 games before suffering a broken fibula in Week 13. He was placed on injured reserve on December 4, 2018.

New England Patriots

On August 30, 2019, Bodine was traded to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

for a sixth-round pick. He was released on September 6, 2019.

Detroit Lions

On December 31, 2019, Bodine signed a reserve/future contract with the

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 ...

. On August 5, 2020, he announced he would opt out of the 2020 season due to the

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 ...

. He was released after the season on March 8, 2021.

References

External links

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North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodine, Russell 1992 births Living people American football offensive linemen New England Patriots players Buffalo Bills players Cincinnati Bengals players Detroit Lions players North Carolina Tar Heels football players People from Scottsville, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia