William Wilson "B. W." Webb Jr. (born May 3, 1990) 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 wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

who is a free agent. He played college football at William & Mary, and was drafted by the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

in the fourth round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...

. He also previously played for the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants,

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 (A ...

, Chicago Bears,

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

, Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals and

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 ...

Early years

Webb was born in Newport News, Virginia. He attended Warwick High School and

Hampton Roads Academy Hampton Roads Academy is a private, independent, co-educational, day school in Newport News, Virginia serving 644 students in grades Pre-K through twelve, and part of the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools. HRA is accredited through the ...

under the tutelage of Coach Abe Mikell in Newport News, and played high school football for the Warwick Raiders. While working with Coach Abe Mikell, Webb developed his fundamentals and love of the game. He was a two-year starter at cornerback and wide receiver. Webb had seven career interceptions, two of which were returned for scores. He was named to first-team All-Peninsula District as a cornerback (2007), and earned honorable mention distinction as a junior. He was also a standout track athlete at Warwick, he ran a career best time of 6.60 seconds in the

55 metres 55 metres is a sprint event in track and field. It is a relatively uncommon non-championship event for indoor track and field. The history of the event lies in the 60-yard dash, which is about 5 inches shorter than 55 metres. Since the 1960s almos ...

. He excelled in

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

as well. He was named to the All-America Team in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

College career

Webb decided to enroll in the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

, where he played for the

William & Mary Tribe football The William & Mary Tribe are a college football team representing the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. William & Mary competes in the Colonial Athletic Association of the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision. ...

team from 2008 to 2012. After redshirting in 2008, he was honored as the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Defensive Rookie of the Year. He was also selected to the All-CAA second-team as a cornerback and to the all-league third-team as a punt returner. He was tied for second nationally with eight interceptions, including a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns, and totaled 160 interception return yards. In 2010, he was selected to the All-CAA first-team as a cornerback and garnered second-team honors as a punt returner after finished the season with 42 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, an interception and six passes broken up. In 2011, he earned first-team all-conference honors at cornerback for the second consecutive season, and finished the season with 40 tackles, 3.0 tackles for a loss and two interceptions. As a senior, he garnered first-team all-league distinction as a cornerback for the third consecutive season, he also earned second-team all-conference honors as a punt returner. He finished his career with nine postseason all-conference honors, and set a school record with 48 career starts. He started all 11 games and totaled 46 tackles, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble, eight passes broken up and a tackle for loss. He was initiated as a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity at William and Mary.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

The

selected Webb in the fourth round (114th overall) of the

. Webb was the 16th cornerback drafted in 2013. On May 14, 2013, the Dallas Cowboys signed Webb to a four-year, $2.60 million

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

that includes a signing bonus of $443,380. Webb entered training camp slated as the fourth cornerback on the depth chart. Head coach

Jason Garrett Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is a former American football player and coach and current broadcaster. He previously served as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for the 2010s from 2010-2019. Garrett has also been offensive coordi ...

named Webb the fourth cornerback on the depth chart to begin the regular season, behind

Brandon Carr Brandon Carey Carr (born May 19, 1986) is a former American football cornerback. He last played for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Grand Valley State and was drafted by the Kansas City Ch ...

Morris Claiborne Morris Lee Claiborne (born February 7, 1990) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Louisiana State University (LSU), where he won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the country and was unanimous ...

, and

Orlando Scandrick Orlando Lee Scandrick (born February 10, 1987) is an American sports commentator and former American football cornerback. He played college football at Boise State University and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the 2008 ...

. He made his professional regular season debut in the Dallas Cowboys’ season-opening 36–31 victory against the New York Giants. In Week 8, he collected a season-high three solo tackles and deflected a pass during a 27–23 win against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

. Webb saw an increased snap count in Weeks 9–10 after Morris Claiborne was sidelined due to a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

injury. On December 9, 2013, Webb had a dismal performance and was benched in favor of Sterling Moore during a 45–28 loss at the Chicago Bears in a Week 13. He was surpassed by Sterling Moore on the depth chart and was demoted to the scout team for the remainder of the season. Webb was inactive as a healthy scratch for the Dallas Cowboys’ 24–22 loss to the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

in a Week 17. Webb finished his rookie season in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

with 16 combined tackles (13 solo) and one pass deflection in 15 games and zero starts. Throughout training camp, Webb competed against Sterling Moore,

Tyler Patmon Tyler Patmon (born January 26, 1991) is a former American football cornerback. He first enrolled at the University of Kansas before transferring to Oklahoma State University and signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2014. ...

, Terrance Mitchell, and Dashaun Phillips to be the fourth cornerback on the depth chart. On August 28, 2014, the Dallas Cowboys waived Webb after he was inactive for their fourth preseason game due to a hip flexor.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On August 29, 2014, the Pittsburgh Steelers claimed Webb off of waivers. Head coach

Mike Tomlin Michael Pettaway Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the Steelers in 2007, he has led the team to ten playoff runs, s ...

named Webb the fifth cornerback on the Steelers’ Depth Chart to begin the season, behind

Ike Taylor Ivan "Ike" Taylor (born May 5, 1980) is a former American football cornerback. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft, and spent his entire 12-year career in Pi ...

Cortez Allen Cortez Lequon Allen (born October 29, 1988) is a former American football cornerback. Allen grew up in Citra, Florida and played college football at The Citadel. Allen was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of the 2011 N ...

, William Gay, and Brice McCain. He was activated for 11 games and played mainly on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

. He was released by the team on September 5, 2015.

Tennessee Titans

On September 9, 2015, he was signed to the

practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 8, for a game against the

in which he recorded his first career interception. He appeared in 9 games (2 starts), while registering 22 tackles, one interception and three passes defensed. On September 2,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, he was released as part of final roster cuts.

New Orleans Saints

On September 14,

, Webb was signed by the

, to provide depth at the

position after Delvin Breaux suffered a broken fibula. He played in 14 games with eight starts with the Saints, recording career-highs of 28 tackles and 11 passes defensed to go along with one interception.

Chicago Bears

On April 5, 2017, Webb signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Bears. He was released on September 2, 2017.

Cleveland Browns

On December 19, 2017, Webb signed with the

. He was waived on December 29, 2017. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Browns on January 1, 2018. He was released on March 15, 2018.

New York Giants

On March 19, 2018, Webb signed a one-year contract with the New York Giants.

Cincinnati Bengals

On March 14, 2019, Webb signed a three-year contract worth $10.5 million with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in 15 games with 12 starts, recording 37 tackles, seven passes defensed, and one interception. On March 18, 2020, Webb was released by the Bengals.

Arizona Cardinals

On August 21, 2020, Webb signed a one-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals. He was released on August 27, 2020.

San Francisco 49ers

On August 4, 2021, Webb signed a one-year contract with the

. He was released on August 24, 2021.

References

External links

William & Mary Tribe bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, B. W. 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Newport News, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia William & Mary Tribe football players American football cornerbacks Dallas Cowboys players Pittsburgh Steelers players Tennessee Titans players New Orleans Saints players Chicago Bears players Cleveland Browns players New York Giants players Cincinnati Bengals players Arizona Cardinals players San Francisco 49ers players