Chad Cota (born August 13, 1971) is a former professional

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 ...

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their du ...

in the NFL. He attended Ashland High School followed by the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

. 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. ...

in the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount ...

and went on to play for the

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 ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

, and the St. Louis Rams over eight seasons, retiring in 2003. He is the uncle of

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

safety Brady Breeze and the father of

wide receiver Chase Cota. Cota was named to the

10 Year Anniversary Team as a safety. His interception in the end zone versus Pittsburgh on the Steelers final possession to preserve victory and clinch the

NFC West The National Football Conference - Western Division or NFC West is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Ang ...

division title is named as the #10 most memorable play in

history. He and

Pat Terrell Patrick Christopher Terrell (born March 18, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a former American football safety in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, and Green Bay Packers. He played college football at the Universi ...

both had 49-yard interception returns against

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

in the first round of the 1996 playoffs, thereby tying each other for the career, season, and single-game Panthers' franchise records for post-season interception return yards.

References

scout.com
referenced 19 January 2006

External links

Chad Cota Golf Shootout Charity Golf Tournament
American football safeties 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Ashland, Oregon Oregon Ducks football players Carolina Panthers players New Orleans Saints players Indianapolis Colts players St. Louis Rams players Players of American football from Oregon Ashland High School (Oregon) alumni {{defensiveback-1970s-stub