William Joseph (born September 3, 1979) 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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an descent, who last played for 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 ...

of 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 ...

(NFL). He was drafted by 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 the first round of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. 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 ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

Early years

Joseph attended Edison High School and was Florida Class 6A Second-team All-State and First-team All-Dade County as a defensive end, recorded 109 tackles, 17 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, six fumbles caused and four fumbles recovered as a senior. As a junior, he totaled 90 tackles and 11 sacks.

College career

Joseph started every game (51 including bowl games) of his Miami career. In 2002 as a senior he was a first-team All-

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

selection, making 51 total tackles (19 solo tackles), 16 tackles for losses, and five quarterback sacks. He also broke up five passes and had a team-high 29 quarterback hurries. In 2001 as a junior, he was third-team All-American recognition by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and second-team All-Big East as he led the team in quarterback sacks (10) and tackles for loss (19). He also had 61 tackles. In 2002, he had total tackles with 40 (15 solos) with three quarterback sacks and 12 quarterback hurries. Joseph was a 1999

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

second-team freshman All-American. He began season at defensive end before moving to tackle and totaled 49 tackles with six tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 17 quarterback hurries, two pass break ups, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovered.

Professional career

New York Giants

Joseph was drafted by the

in the first round with the 25th overall pick in the

. After a holdout he signed a five-year $6.95 million contract August 5, 2003. He played in 14 games as a rookie, primarily as a reserve defensive tackle and finished the season with 6 tackles (3 solo), 1 sack and 1 forced fumble. In 2004, he played in 15 games with 4 starts and made 25 tackles (20 solo), 2 sacks and 2 passes defensed. In 2005 started all 10 regular season games in which he played and the NFC Wild Card Game at right defensive tackle. He finished the season with 19 tackles (14 solo), 2 sacks, 3 passes defensed and 1 fumble recover. He missed 6 of the last 7 regular season games due to injuries. The next season, 2006, he played in all 16 league games with three starts and recorded 21 tackles and two quarterback sacks. In 2007 Joseph played in the pre-season games and the regular season before sustaining a season-ending injury after which he was placed on injured reserve. Joseph earned a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

with the Giants in

Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

Oakland Raiders

The

signed Joseph on March 14, 2008, released him on September 2 and re-signed him on November 5, 2008. He finished the 2008 season with eight tackles. Joseph was released on September 6, 2009, after the team acquired

Richard Seymour Richard Vershaun Seymour (born October 6, 1979) is an American professional poker player and former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) . He played college football College footbal ...

from 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 ...

only to be re-signed on September 11 after Seymour failed to show up. However, after Seymour showed up at the Raiders facility, Joseph was released again on September 14. He was re-signed on November 9. Joseph was re-signed on March 23, 2010, but was later released prior to the start of the 2010 season.

After football

On April 30, 2012, Joseph along with two other former NFL players were arrested on federal charges in connection with an alleged scheme to steal people’s identities and file false tax returns. Joseph was sentenced on November 30, 2012, to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for his participation in an identity theft tax refund fraud scheme. Joseph pleaded guilty on August 31, 2012, to one count of theft of government money and one count of aggravated identity theft.FBI News Release http://www.fbi.gov/miami/press-releases/2012/former-nfl-star-sentenced-on-identity-theft-tax-refund-fraud-scheme

References

External links

Miami Hurricanes bioOakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, William 1979 births Living people Miami Edison Senior High School alumni Players of American football from Miami American football defensive tackles American sportspeople of Haitian descent Miami Hurricanes football players New York Giants players Oakland Raiders players