Anthony Scott Dye (born February 11, 1990) 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 with ...

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

. 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 ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He was signed 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 ...

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 2012, coming off a broken neck at UCLA. After missing the entire 2012 season due to ankle surgery, Dye was activated against the Cleveland Browns the following year, scoring a touchdown for Cincinnati on a 24-yard return of a blocked punt in his NFL debut. Dye was the defensive coordinator for the Norco High School Varsity football team in

Norco, California Norco is a city in Riverside County, California, in the United States. Norco is known as Horsetown, USA and prides itself on being a "horse community," with horse trails, hitching posts, and corrals, and city ordinances requiring construction to ...

for 4 years. He then took the job as Defensive Coordinator at San Bernardino Valley College. Most recently he completed a coaching fellowship with the San Francisco 49ers.

Early years

Anthony Scott Dye, commonly known as "Tony," attended Santiago High School in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...

. He was a PrepStar Dream Team selection in high school. He was selected to the SuperPrep All-American team. He was selected and participated in the Under Armour All-America Game. He was ranked the 9th nationally prospect at

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

by Scout.com. He was selected to the All-State second team by Cal-Hi Sports.

College career

Dye played

where he wore the number 6. He was named co-winner of UCLA's Henry R. "Red" Sanders Award for Most Valuable Player in his junior season. He was named as an Pac-10 honorable mention in his junior season. A serious injury struck Dye during his senior season, when he fractured his neck in practice.Ben Shpigel
"One Game to Remember. Just One,"
''New York Times,'' Nov. 22, 2017. The injury caused Dye to miss all but three games during his senior year, and took away any chance of being selected in the

2011 NFL draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

On May 2, 2012, Dye signed with the

as an undrafted free agent. On August 31, 2012, he was placed on Injured Reserve due to ankle injury in which causing him to miss the entire 2012 NFL season. On August 31, 2013, he was released by the Bengals. In September 2013 Dye re-signed with Bengals, joining the team's

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, ...

. On November 16, 2013, Dye was promoted to the active roster for a Week 11 game against the

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 ( ...

. Playing on special teams in the Cleveland game, Dye was charged with obstructing the speedy "gunner" at the outside of the line of the punting team near the line of scrimmage. During the second quarter, Dye's Bengals teammate

Jayson DiManche Jayson Dimanche (born September 22, 1990) is a Haitian former American football linebacker. He was originally signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He played college football at Southern Illinois. Early years He at ...

got his hand on a Browns punt, sending the ball sideways towards Dye. Dye managed to scoop up the ball and return it 24 yards down the sideline to score a Cincinnati touchdown, en route to a 41-20 Bengals victory. Dye was again deactivated for the Bengals' next game and never saw NFL game action again. On December 12, 2013, the Bengals waived Dye.

2014 season

After his release by the Bengals, Dye visited 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. ...

in an effort to sign on with the club, but team physicians discovered a previously undiagnosed heart condition which prevented the Giants from offering him a contract. Dye returned home to Los Angeles, only to be the called the next day by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, who invited him to try out with Oakland. Dye was signed by the Raiders as a reserve/future free agent on January 14, 2014,Raiders attempted to re-sign Dye to a Reserve/Future Contract
/ref> but on May 14 he opted to medically retire, ending his NFL career as a player.

Coaching career

After leaving the NFL, Dye made the acquaintance of the head coach of the Norco High School team while picking a younger brother up at practice. Dye was ultimately hired to a coaching position as defensive coordinator of the Norco squad and remained for 4 years. He then took the job as Defensive Coordinator with San Bernardino Valley College for one year. Most recently he served in a coaching fellowship with the SF 49ers

Footnotes

External links

UCLA Bruins football bioCincinnati Bengals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dye, Tony 1990 births Living people American football safeties Cincinnati Bengals players Oakland Raiders players UCLA Bruins football players