Wilfred L. Grant (born March 7, 1954 in Boston, Massachusetts) 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 wi ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

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 ...

for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks.

University of Kentucky

Will Grant played college football at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

Buffalo Bills

Will Grant was taken by the Buffalo Bills in the 10th round (255th overall) of the 1978 NFL Draft and became their starting center in his third year (1980) for all 16 games between left

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

Reggie McKenzie and right guard

Conrad Dobler Conrad Francis Dobler (born October 1, 1950) is a former American football guard who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was selected in the fifth round of the 1972 NFL Draft by ...

, replacing

Willie Parker (offensive lineman) William Nolen Parker (born December 28, 1948) is a former American football center who played for eleven seasons in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions. North Texas University Parker played co ...

, also the third year of

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Chuck Knox, when the team won the AFC East division title with

Joe Ferguson Joseph Carlton Ferguson Jr. (born April 23, 1950) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Arkansas. Early year ...

as the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, but lost their first playoff game to the San Diego Chargers. Grant remained their starting center for the next 5 years, up to his final year in Buffalo (1985), starting in 16, 9 out of 9 (strike year), 16, 16, and 15 games, respectively. In 1981, with Ferguson still at quarterback, the Bills made the playoffs for the second year in a row with a 10-6 won-lost record, won a wild-card match against the New York Jets but lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round. After that, the team tailed off to 4-5, 8-8, 2-14, and 2-14 won-lost records. In 1986, Grant was replaced by rookie

Kent Hull James Kent Hull (January 13, 1961 – October 18, 2011) was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League and United States Football League, more precisely a center for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL and Buffalo Bi ...

Seattle Seahawks

Grant then joined Knox with the Seattle Seahawks in 1986 and 1987, starting 6 games in 1986 but only once in 1987, his final year in the NFL.

References

1954 births Living people Players of American football from Boston American football centers Kentucky Wildcats football players Buffalo Bills players Seattle Seahawks players {{offensive-lineman-1950s-stub