Tyler Gaffney (born April 20, 1991) 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 ...

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who is a free agent and former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He was drafted by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

in the sixth 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 ...

and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. He also played for 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 ...

and

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

in the NFL. Gaffney was picked by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in the 24th round of the

2012 MLB Draft The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 4 through June 6, 2012, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Houston Astros, with the first overall pick, selected Carlos Correa from the Puerto R ...

and went on to play two seasons of minor league baseball.

Early years

Gaffney attended

Cathedral Catholic High School Cathedral Catholic High School (CCHS) is a private coeducational Catholic college preparatory day school in San Diego, California serving grades 9–12. It is operated by the Diocese of San Diego. It was founded in 1957 as the University High ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. During his

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

career, he rushed for 5,547 yards with 99 total

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

Football career

College

As a true freshman in 2009, Gaffney played in 12 games, rushing for 87 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown. As a sophomore in 2010, he played in 10 of 13 games, missing three games due to injury. He finished the season with 255 yards on 60 carries and four touchdowns. As a junior in 2011, he played in 13 games rushing for 449 yards on 74 carries with seven touchdowns. After spending a season playing

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

, he returned to the team in 2013. Gaffney had an outstanding year in 2013. He started in 14 games finishing with 330 rushing attempts, 1709 rushing yards, and 21 rushing touchdowns.

Professional

Carolina Panthers

Gaffney was drafted by the

with the 204th pick in the

. While he was originally slated to compete for the third running back spot on the roster with second-year runner

Kenjon Barner Kenjon Fa'terrel Barner (born April 28, 1989) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football for the University of Oregon and received All-American honors. He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the six ...

, on July 26, 2014, Gaffney went down with a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee during training camp. As a result of the injury, he was waived by the Panthers.

New England Patriots

On July 28, 2014, Gaffney was claimed off waivers by the

. On August 26, 2014, Gaffney was placed on injured reserve. Gaffney won

Super Bowl XLIX Super Bowl XLIX was an American football game played to determine the champions of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conf ...

with the Patriots after they defeated the defending champion

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

28–24. Gaffney was waived by the Patriots on August 12, 2015. Since he went unclaimed, he and his contract through 2016 reverted to the Patriots. Gaffney was placed on injured reserve on August 13. In order to revise Gaffney's contract, the Patriots released Gaffney on April 11, 2016; after clearing waivers, he was re-signed on April 14. On September 3, 2016, Gaffney was waived/injured by the Patriots and was placed on injured reserve after clearing waivers. On September 9, 2016, he was released from injured reserve with an injury settlement. On October 17, 2016, he was re-signed to their practice squad and was promoted to the active roster on October 29, 2016. On November 10, 2016, Gaffney was waived by the Patriots and was re-signed to the practice squad two days later. On February 5, 2017, Gaffney won his second Super Bowl championship when the Patriots won

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 NFL season, 2016 season. The American Football Confer ...

. In the game, the Patriots defeated the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

by a score of 34–28 in overtime. On February 7, 2017, Gaffney signed a futures contract with the Patriots. On March 20, 2017, Gaffney was released by the Patriots.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On August 2, 2017, Gaffney was signed by the

. He was waived/injured by the Jaguars on August 11, 2017, and placed on injured reserve. After his football career had been derailed by injuries, Gaffney announced his retirement in March 2018 to resume his professional baseball career. Gaffney had a tryout with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

on August 20, 2020.

San Francisco 49ers

On December 22, 2020, Gaffney signed with the practice squad of the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. He was released on January 6, 2021.

New England Patriots (second stint)

On May 21, 2021, Gaffney signed with the

. He was released on August 10, 2021.

Baseball career

2012

Gaffney played three years of

as an

at Stanford. During the three years he hit .300/.405/.427 with eight

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s. He was drafted by the

in the 24th round of the

2012 Major League Baseball Draft The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 4 through June 6, 2012, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Houston Astros, with the first overall pick, selected Carlos Correa from the Puerto R ...

. He played in 38 games for the

State College Spikes The State College Spikes are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in State College, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the campus of Pennsylvania State University. The ...

that year, hitting .297/.483/.441. After the season, he returned to football.

2018

Gaffney returned to baseball for the 2018 season after moving on from the NFL, joining the Pittsburgh Pirates' minor league affiliate

Bradenton Marauders The Bradenton Marauders are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Bradenton, Florida, and play their home games at LECOM Park, which also serves as th ...

. In 89 games between the Pirates' High-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona affiliates, he batted .244 with six homers and 36 RBIs. He retired from baseball on February 23, 2019.

Personal life

Gaffney is married to Kristen Rorie, they have two sons.

References

External links

Stanford Cardinal bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffney, Tyler 1991 births Living people Players of American football from San Diego American football running backs Baseball players from San Diego Stanford Cardinal football players Stanford Cardinal baseball players State College Spikes players Carolina Panthers players New England Patriots players Jacksonville Jaguars players Bradenton Marauders players Altoona Curve players San Francisco 49ers players