Walter Lee Powell (born November 23, 1991) 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 ...

wide receiver and

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. 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 ...

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

. He was drafted by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play 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 ...

. After retiring from the NFL, Powell became part of the development team for a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

called Politiscope.

College career

Powell finished 17th in the 2013

Walter Payton Award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports ...

voting.

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Powell was drafted in the sixth round (196th overall) of the

. He was waived on August 31, 2014 during final roster cuts.

New York Jets

Powell was claimed off waivers by the

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

on September 1, 2014. In 4 games of his rookie season of 2014, Powell returned 8 kickoffs for 233 yards and 12 punts for 48 yards. In the third preseason game against the interleague-rival New York Giants on August 29, 2015, Powell returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown. Despite a quality performance in the preseason, the Jets released Powell on September 5, 2015 as part of the final roster cuts. However, the next day on September 6, the Jets signed Powell to their practice squad.

Buffalo Bills

Powell was signed by the Bills and assigned to 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 October 6, 2015.

Oakland Raiders

On October 16, 2015, the Oakland Raiders signed Powell to their active roster off the Bills' practice squad. On November 3, 2015, he was waived by the Raiders.

Buffalo Bills (second stint)

On November 6, 2015, Powell was re-signed to the Bills' practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 22, 2015. On November 29, 2016 Powell was placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Powell was suspended for the first four games of the 2017 season for violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing substances. After being reinstated from suspension on October 2, 2017, Powell was released by the Bills.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On January 16, 2018, Powell was signed to the

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 ...

' practice squad.

Post-playing career

In an article for ''

The Players' Tribune ''The Players' Tribune'' is a new media platform that produces daily sports conversation and publishes first-person stories from professional athletes. The platform was founded by former professional Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter in ...

'', Powell said that he was contacted by several NFL teams prior to the start of the

2019 NFL season The 2019 NFL season was the 100th season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 54th of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 5, 2019, with the NFL Kickoff Game, in which Green Bay defeated Chicago. The season concluded w ...

asking him to try out, but he declined these offers to concentrate on developing a

called Politiscope. He partnered with his brother, former NFL player Brandon Williams, to develop the app, which launched January 17, 2019.

References

External links

Murray State Racers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Walt 1991 births 21st-century American businesspeople Living people American football wide receivers American technology executives Arizona Cardinals players Buffalo Bills players Jacksonville Jaguars players Murray State Racers football players New York Jets players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from St. Louis 21st-century African-American businesspeople